Check out Political Economy Project member Jamil Hilal's recently published article entitled "Rethinking Palestine: settler-colonialism, neo-liberalism and individualism in the West Bank and Gaza Strip" in the journal Contemporary Arab Affairs ​(June, 2015).

Abstract:

"The 1967 occupied Palestinian territories have undergone three major types of development since the Oslo agreement between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Israel was signed in 1993 and the Palestinian Authority was established in 1994. These developments have brought far-reaching structural changes in Palestinian politics and society. They have rendered Palestinian communities – inside historic Palestine and outside - very vulnerable, and made collective action against collective colonial repression (including a third intifada) more difficult. The three developments are identified as: the emergence of a political discourse that evicts Palestinians from history and geography and denies them a national identity; the escalation of collective repression, and settler-colonization; and the localization of Palestinian politics and the atomization of Palestinian society (in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and probably elsewhere) under the impact of settler-colonialism and neo-liberalism.
Keywords: apartheid; colonialism; Israel; intifada; military occupation; neoliberalism; Palestinian Authority"

Check out Political Economy Project member Jamil Hilal's recently published study entitled "A Reading on the Socio Urban Changes in Ramalah and Kufur Aqab." The research for this preliminary study was carried out by Jamil Hilal and Abaher El-Sakka through the Center for Development Studies at Birzeit University. Read the study below:

Listen to Political Economy Project members discuss the meaning of political economy in a collection of panels entitled "What is Political Economy?" on Status/الوضع:

Held in April 2015 at George Mason University, this inaugural workshop of the Political Economy Project (PEP) features presentations from numerous researchers and scholars of political economy from the Middle East and beyond. PEP is an evolving focus of the Arab Studies Institute, with research, pedagogic, and advocacy objectives.

Participants were asked to address any aspect(s) of the following questions. However, they were encouraged to improvise and/or share their own work/research agenda as well.

1. What is your conception of 'political economy' and how do you incorporate political economy into your own research agenda? 2. What do you consider good political economy texts and why? 3. What are some of the pressing questions/concerns you would like to see (or avoid) in some or any agenda in political economy? (This may address the region, or not.) 4. What types of academic initiatives do you think could help in supporting and strengthening your work in PE, and help to push the field forward productively?

Day two of the workshop is made up of twelve presentations, which you can click on separately in the player below. (Day one's presentations can be accessed here). Please find full speaker bios of workshop participants at Status/الوضع and click here for the full Political Economy Project network page.

Participants: 

• Mandy Turner - Kenyon Institute
• ZIad Abu-Rish - Ohio University
• Toby Jones - Rutgers University
• Max Ajl - Cornell University
• Laleh Khalili - SOAS, University of London
• Wael Gamal - Al Shurouq 
• Ahmad Shokr - New York University 
• Aaron Jakes - George Washington University 
• John Warner - New York University 
• Shana Marshall - George Washington University 
• Adam Hanieh - SOAS, University of London 
• Bassam Haddad - George Mason University 

Political Economy Project - Workshop 1
25 April 2015
Fairfax, VA - George Mason University

What is Political Economy?: The Inaugural Political Economy Project Workshop (Part 1) - from Status/الوضع Panels

What is Political Economy?: The Inaugural Political Economy Project Workshop (Part 2) - from Status/الوضع Panels

click above to visit Status/الوضع

Check out Political Economy Project member Wael Gamal's recently published article "Why Does the Neoliberal Project Persist in the Arab Region?" on Khoyout. Gamal's article is one section of a larger work entitled Social Justice in the Arab Countries: Between Popular Mobilization and Political Tracks. Click here to visit the site and read the article!

Read the following reminder about the Political Economy Project's 2016 Political Economy Book Prize Competition and enter your work into the competition before it is too late:

The Political Economy Project (PEP) is pleased to invite nominations for our 2016 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 2013, 2014 or 2015 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 PEP’s affiliate Audio Journal, Status/الوضع.

Deadline for submission is Friday 26 February 2016. If you intend to participate, please email us at: bookprize@politicaleconomyproject.org and send three copies of the text should be sent to the following address:

Arab Studies Institute
4087 University Drive
Commerce Building, 3rd Floor, Suite 3200
Fairfax VA 22030
USA 

Two copies will be returned once the committee has reached a decision. If mailing three texts presents a financial hardship to the author s/he should send a request for financial assistance to:
​
bookprize@politicaleconomyproject.org 

Click here to read the above announcement on Jadaliyya.