Political economy of the Middle East
Lesson 1
Remittance = money from expats.
Dates have been a very important economic comodity for the Middle East (famine too).
MENA = Middle East and North Africa
WANA = West Asia North Africa
Late 2010 Human Nations reported the top 10 countries with the fastest improvement of
the world: among these Oman, Tunesia, Saudi Arabia, Morocco.
But a few months later, protest broke up.
1990’s: many countries were in SEVERE debt but the Arab spring did not happen then.
GDP: how much money is earned and ‘made’ in a country in a year. So basically, an
economic measure on how ‘big’/’strong’ the economy of this country is.
But, GDP does not indicate informal economy, the welfare of a country and the division.
GDP per capita: the money that is being made, devided by the population.
But this does also not tell you anything about the distribution. It is only an average,
but it is not devided the same for everybody.
Also it does not tell you anything about the cost of living.
1973= oil embargo
State structure and policy = the state
Structural transformation = f.e. indutrial revolution
Social Actors = f.e. individuals or groups of people (social classes).
There are different definitions of ‘class’, which will be discussed later.
One of the critiques on the triangle of axes = very state-focussed, what about
international levels for example?
Economic typology: RRPL Resource Rich Labor Poor
Labour = people (not enough (educated) people for work)
Economic typology: RRLA Resourche Rich Labor Abundant
So enough resources but also a lot of people to devide it over.
Economic typology: RPLA Resource Poor and Labor Abundant
Economic typology: OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development
for wealthy developed economies (western european, northern american, japan, south
korea, israel, turkey etc.)
, Dominant paradigms/explanations
-State/civil society paradigm (consider the role of authoritarianism/role of the state)
-State/cass paradigms (considerate the nature of capitalism and religion)
Lesson 2: Economic history and development I
Legacies for development
Differences in patterns of state-building & class-formation in the Ottoman territories,
Europe, and the Indian Ocean world highlight the various institutional legacies for
development.
Legacies for development – Ottoman
Ottoman Empire had a sophisticated set of governing institutions to administer territories
(bureaucracy, professional army, legal codes, educational systems etc.).
thinking about fragmentation and division (in income/land/power) are all forms of
maintaining control but also of class-formation.
Legacies: Gulf & Indian Ocean worlds
Tehran, Bombay and Zanzibar were also very important cities to the Gulf.
Earlier centuries: European politics played out in Indian Ocean arena (Portugal, Spain,
Holland).
Main foreign players in the Early 20th century
-Britain
-France
Why were they interested in the ME in the 20th century?
-For Britain: transportation and routes (Suez canal)
-For Britain & France: oil (navies start to use oil instead of coal)
-For Britain & France: The Eastern Question = what after the collapse of the Ottomans?
-For Britain & France: keeping Russia out
-For Britain & France: access to gold, spices, slaves, tea, silk etc.
-For Britain: security of its ‘crown jewel’ India
19th century to Inter-war economy
19th century:
Factories confined to a few plants.
Small workshop & handicraft industry
Huge increase in trade
Growing commerce with Europe
Ottoman & Egyptian governments borrowed to import capital – led to bankruptcy
in the 1870’s & subordination of economies to foreign financial control.
Lesson 1
Remittance = money from expats.
Dates have been a very important economic comodity for the Middle East (famine too).
MENA = Middle East and North Africa
WANA = West Asia North Africa
Late 2010 Human Nations reported the top 10 countries with the fastest improvement of
the world: among these Oman, Tunesia, Saudi Arabia, Morocco.
But a few months later, protest broke up.
1990’s: many countries were in SEVERE debt but the Arab spring did not happen then.
GDP: how much money is earned and ‘made’ in a country in a year. So basically, an
economic measure on how ‘big’/’strong’ the economy of this country is.
But, GDP does not indicate informal economy, the welfare of a country and the division.
GDP per capita: the money that is being made, devided by the population.
But this does also not tell you anything about the distribution. It is only an average,
but it is not devided the same for everybody.
Also it does not tell you anything about the cost of living.
1973= oil embargo
State structure and policy = the state
Structural transformation = f.e. indutrial revolution
Social Actors = f.e. individuals or groups of people (social classes).
There are different definitions of ‘class’, which will be discussed later.
One of the critiques on the triangle of axes = very state-focussed, what about
international levels for example?
Economic typology: RRPL Resource Rich Labor Poor
Labour = people (not enough (educated) people for work)
Economic typology: RRLA Resourche Rich Labor Abundant
So enough resources but also a lot of people to devide it over.
Economic typology: RPLA Resource Poor and Labor Abundant
Economic typology: OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development
for wealthy developed economies (western european, northern american, japan, south
korea, israel, turkey etc.)
, Dominant paradigms/explanations
-State/civil society paradigm (consider the role of authoritarianism/role of the state)
-State/cass paradigms (considerate the nature of capitalism and religion)
Lesson 2: Economic history and development I
Legacies for development
Differences in patterns of state-building & class-formation in the Ottoman territories,
Europe, and the Indian Ocean world highlight the various institutional legacies for
development.
Legacies for development – Ottoman
Ottoman Empire had a sophisticated set of governing institutions to administer territories
(bureaucracy, professional army, legal codes, educational systems etc.).
thinking about fragmentation and division (in income/land/power) are all forms of
maintaining control but also of class-formation.
Legacies: Gulf & Indian Ocean worlds
Tehran, Bombay and Zanzibar were also very important cities to the Gulf.
Earlier centuries: European politics played out in Indian Ocean arena (Portugal, Spain,
Holland).
Main foreign players in the Early 20th century
-Britain
-France
Why were they interested in the ME in the 20th century?
-For Britain: transportation and routes (Suez canal)
-For Britain & France: oil (navies start to use oil instead of coal)
-For Britain & France: The Eastern Question = what after the collapse of the Ottomans?
-For Britain & France: keeping Russia out
-For Britain & France: access to gold, spices, slaves, tea, silk etc.
-For Britain: security of its ‘crown jewel’ India
19th century to Inter-war economy
19th century:
Factories confined to a few plants.
Small workshop & handicraft industry
Huge increase in trade
Growing commerce with Europe
Ottoman & Egyptian governments borrowed to import capital – led to bankruptcy
in the 1870’s & subordination of economies to foreign financial control.
