Prevailing discussions about the economic crisis in the Middle East pay inadequate attention to the political constraints that limit the horizon of development. Neither old state-led economic approaches nor the neoliberal templates that replaced them have resolved the chronic underdevelopment of the region.

Newer paradigms today are based upon a reformulated version of state-led capitalism, namely the so-called “Gulf model” as well as the economic dualism practiced in non-rentier states. Yet these templates of development suffer social vulnerability and political limitations, the latter reflecting the elite-centric structures of governance that still characterize political authority.
Imagining a more productive future requires not reformulating technocratic logics that have failed, but rather conceiving of more pluralistic political institutions capable of rendering economic decisions more accountable to popular interests.

With:
HICHAM ALAOUI, Lecturer, University of California Berkeley
ISHAC DIWAN, Research Director, Finance for Development Lab, Paris School of Economics
Welcome remarks by:
STÉPHANIE BALME, Director CERI; Professor PSIA, Sciences Po
Moderated by:
STÉPHANE LACROIX, Associate Professor, CERI, Sciences Po

This event was co-organized by the Centre de recherches internationales and the Paris School of International Affairs.