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The Political Economy Project (PEP) is the culmination of several years' worth of networking and planning by the Arab Studies Institute and its affiliate scholars. The project aims to develop and encourage critical approaches to political economy, interrogate the dominant paradigms, and provide insights for alternatives. By its nature this project is simultaneously intellectual and political, as these realms are inseparable. Therefore, we do not limit our ambitions to producing books and articles. We plan to weave networks of individuals, influence pedagogical approaches, and for those interested, advocate for organic alternatives to existing dominant notions of “development,” growth, redistribution, power relations, and social justice. Finally, we are committed to expanding the scope of this project beyond the “Middle East” for comparative as well as intellectual/political purposes. Read more about PEP HERE and learn more about our network HERE. |
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Happening at The Political Economy Project
Call for Submissions:
2023 Middle East Political Economy Book Prize
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The Political Economy Project (PEP) is pleased to invite nominations for our 2023 Middle East Political Economy Book Prize. PEP aims to recognize and disseminate exceptional critical work on the political economy of the Middle East. While the book must have a political economy theme, we welcome nominations from across academic disciplines. Submissions will be read and judged by a committee drawn from PEP’s membership. Eligible texts must have been published in 2022 and can be either Arabic or English language. The book must make an original contribution to critical political economy research. The author(s) of the winning book will receive a prize of US$1000 and will be invited to give a talk at a PEP affiliated University. The author(s) will also be interviewed by the Arab Studies Institute’s Audio Magazine, Status/الوضع
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The deadline for submission is 30 June 2023
If you intend to participate, please fill out the submission form here. Submit any questions to:
bookprize@politicaleconomyproject.org
If you intend to participate, please fill out the submission form here. Submit any questions to:
bookprize@politicaleconomyproject.org
Looking Back: Political Economy Summer Institute 2023
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We want to thank all of our amazing PESI faculty and students for making the 7th annual summer institute such a success!
On June 1-4 2023 we welcomed doctoral students and other researchers for our 7th Political Economy Summer Institute hosted by George Mason University on the political economy of the Middle East. The aim of the Political Economy Summer Institute (PESI) is both to provide graduate level engagement and instruction as well as to connect doctoral students and independent researchers with mid-career and senior scholars working in the field of critical political economy. The Summer Institute consisted of three main parts: (1) doctoral students presenting their research and receiving written and verbal feedback from the participants, (2) methodological and theoretical workshop sessions led by faculty scholars, and (3) small break-out group discussions that build on the faculty-led sessions. PESI 2023 incorporated closed sessions and public-facing panels. The closed sessions were attended only by students and permitted faculty to foster an environment of open discussion where students and professors can speak openly. These sessions covered topics essential to researchers interested in utilizing a critical political economy approach including lectures and discussions on; state formation, the political economy of oil, value and supply chains, and racial capitalism to name a few. Many sessions also included structured breakout room discussions where students deepened their understanding of the topic at hand though dialog with their peers. Public panels are a way for PESI to share its invaluable resources with a wider audience. This year's first panel on imperialism was hosted by Max Ajl, Jacob Mundy, and Radhika Desai. The second public panel was an in-depth look at the book Markets of Civilization with the author Muriam Haleh Davis. We want to thank all of our applicants and faculty for attending and making PESI 2023 a phenomenal experience. The summer institute is sponsored by the Arab Studies Institute, Arcadia University, and George Mason University. PESI 2023 is cosponsored by the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program at GMU and the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. The deadline for applications to PESI 2023 is closed 
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2019 Middle East Political Economy Book Prize Winner
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Honorable Mention
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Honorable Mention
The Political Economy Project (PEP) is pleased to announce the results of the 2019 Middle East Political Economy Book Prize competition. With this prize, PEP aims to recognize and disseminate exceptional critical work on the political economy of the Middle East. This year marks the fourth annual award, and the selection committee reviewed nearly twenty nominations for a range of books dealing with political economy—representing a diversity of disciplines, topics, and geographic focus. The selection committee was particular impressed with two books in particular and consequently felt the need to recognize an honorable mention award.
The 2019 selection committee recognizes the following authors for their original contributions to critical political economy research:
The 2019 selection committee recognizes the following authors for their original contributions to critical political economy research:
Winner
Adam Hanieh’s Money, Markets, and Monarchies: The Gulf Cooperation Council and the Political Economy of the Contemporary Middle East
(Cambridge University Press, 2018)
Adam Hanieh’s Money, Markets, and Monarchies: The Gulf Cooperation Council and the Political Economy of the Contemporary Middle East
(Cambridge University Press, 2018)
Honorable Mention
Begüm Adalet’s Hotels and Highways: The Construction of Modernization Theory in Cold War Turkey
(Stanford University Press, 2018
Begüm Adalet’s Hotels and Highways: The Construction of Modernization Theory in Cold War Turkey
(Stanford University Press, 2018
Political Economy Summer Institute (PESI) 2019
Thank you to all of the faculty and fellows who made our third annual Political Economy Summer Institute a tremendous success.
PESI 2019 Faculty and Fellows
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Over the course of four days, June 7th to June 10th 2019, and in conjunction with the Arab Studies Institute, the Political Economy Project held its 4th annual Political Economy Summer Institute (PESI) at George Mason University. The Summer Institute brought together a diverse collection of scholars and graduate student fellows from around the world for a series of workshops on the foundational concerns of critical political economy, with special attention devoted to conducting research in the contemporary Middle East.
The Institute served not only as an overview of critical debates and fundamental concepts for student participants, but also as an opportunity for faculty participants to reflect on long-running debates and acquaint themselves with emerging research agendas. Read more about the Political Economy Summer Institute here. |
2017 Middle East Political Economy Book Prize Winners
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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:
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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) |
Spotlight: 2016 Middle East Political Economy Book Prize
The Political Economy Project is pleased to announce the winners of the 2016 Middle East Political Economy Book Prize
Jamie Allinson’s The Struggle for the State in Jordan is a theoretically rich work that engages contemporary debates around uneven and combined development, and applies them to the case of Jordan’s geopolitical alignments in the 1950s. The book deftly traces the ways in which British intervention shaped primitive accumulation in the Transjordanian steppe, thereby generating a distinct social base to the Hashemite regime. Allinson makes a unique and novel contribution to understanding state formation in Jordan within wider regional and global power relations. In doing so, Allinson has significantly contributed to both the scholarship on Jordan and the broader comparative analysis of state building, economic development, and political economy in the Middle East.
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Sherene Seikaly’s Men of Capital is a beautifully written and engaging book that makes a powerful contribution to our understanding of the history of Palestinian elites, group conceptions of "the economy," and their intersection with the settler-colonial project in Palestine. Seikaly addresses a much-understudied segment of Palestinian society, and provides new theoretical insight into class and state politics under the British Mandate. The book's archival and primary research is first-rate, and relies on sources absent from much of the historiography of Palestine and the broader Middle East. Moreover, Seikaly’s argument helps clarify both historical debates and important precedent for contemporary political forms in Palestine. Her historiography sheds new light on a wide range of contemporary debates in political economy, including our understanding of neoliberalism, governmentality, and class formation.
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Spotlight: What is Political Economy?
JADMAG: What is Political Economy?
Edited by Bassam Haddad, Omar Dahi, Ziad Abu-Rish, Joel Beinin & Sherene Seikaly This issue of JadMag--What is Political Economy?--is the first of a series on the Political Economy of the Middle East. Drawn from lectures presented at the Political Economy Project’s founding workshop, the authors in this issue seek to define and interrogate the field of political economy and address how they actually “do” political economy. While authors agree on the interdisciplinary study of political economy as well as the basic tenets of the Marxist tradition, they nevertheless present various perspectives. Visit Tadween Publishing to purchase this JadMag! |
click above to visit our PEPBLOG for the latest updates on Political Economy Project members and events
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