POLITICAL ECONOMY

Focus

The suppression of the MENA region’s hopes for democracy has not only been advanced through the barrel of the gun. It has also been achieved through the use of economic powers and the workings of market actors. 

The Noria MENA Program created its Political Economy Project to address these economic dynamics head-on. Through field-based research, the project investigates the relationship between business and authoritarianism, and shines a light on the suffering created by the region’s economies.  

Objectives

The work of the Political Economy Project is organized around four objectives:

→ Collecting original data

→Collecting original data concerning policy, markets and state-business relations

→ Problematizing dominant narratives

Problematizing dominant narratives around economic development in the region

→ Spotlighting the actors and institutions

Spotlighting the actors and institutions at the heart of MENA’s social and economic crises

→ Connecting dynamics

Connecting dynamics of profit, power and oppression

Middle East & North Africa Program