Political Economy Project Book Prize

2018 Middle East Political Economy Book Prize
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The Political Economy Project (PEP) is pleased to announce the winner of the 2018 Middle East Political Economy Book Prize. With this prize, PEP aims to recognize and disseminate exceptional critical work on the political economy of the Middle East. 
Kevan Harris's A Social Revolution : Politics and the Welfare State in Iran (University of California Press)
​For decades, political observers and pundits have characterized the Islamic Republic of Iran as an ideologically rigid state on the verge of collapse, exclusively connected to a narrow social base. In A Social Revolution, Kevan Harris convincingly demonstrates how they are wrong. Previous studies ignore the forceful consequences of three decades of social change following the 1979 revolution. Today, more people in the country are connected to welfare and social policy institutions than to any other form of state organization. In fact, much of Iran’s current political turbulence is the result of the success of these social welfare programs, which have created newly educated and mobilized social classes advocating for change. Based on extensive fieldwork conducted in Iran, Harris shows how the revolutionary regime endured through the expansion of health, education, and aid programs that have both embedded the state in everyday life and empowered its challengers. This focus on the social policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran opens a new line of inquiry into the study of welfare states in countries where they are often overlooked or ignored.
2017 Middle East Political Economy Book Prize Honorees

The Political Economy Project (PEP) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2017 Middle East Political Economy Book Prize. With this prize, PEP aims to recognize and disseminate exceptional critical work on the political economy of the Middle East. For its inaugural award, the selection committ­ee welcomed nominations for books on political economy published between 2014-2016 from a range of publishers and across academic disciplines. After reviewing a dozen submissions, the 2017 selection committee recognizes two co-winners for their original contributions to critical political economy research.​
Hanan Hammad’s Industrial Sexuality: Gender, Urbanization, and Social Transformation in Egypt (University of Texas Press)
Johan Mathew’s Margins of the Market: Trafficking and Capitalism across the Arabian Sea (University of California Press)