ABSTRACT

The question of socio-economic underdevelopment in the Arab region has been a perennial theme in development studies. While some scholars highlight the long durée effect of the Ottoman institutional legacy, others place the blame on the legacy of exploitation and expropriation of the colonial practices in the region. The article reaches beyond the two accounts (albeit departing from the colonial economic basis) and brings out the agency of the post-colonial elites who altered the socio-economic foundation of the political class and transformed processes of capital accumulation and labour commodification. I argue that the processes of state-building accompanied by social engineering measures represented a ‘critical juncture’ that impinged on state autonomy and its bureaucratic capacity and left an indelible imprint on development strategies. The article unpacks three mechanisms that proved consequential for economic policy outcomes: (1) the degree of elite autonomy to formulate policies, (2) the power of social classes to contest economic policies, and (3) the capacity of state bureaucracy to implement policies and allocate resources. A critical political economy perspective, that reaches beyond the reification of the state and examines the interaction between ‘elite deals’ and ‘social bargains’, offers a nuanced account for varied development records across the region.

摘要

阿拉伯地区社会经济欠发达问题一直是发展研究的一个长期主题。虽然一些学者强调奥斯曼帝国制度遗产的长期影响，但另一些学者则将此归咎于该地区殖民做法的剥削和征用的遗产。这篇文章超越了这两种叙述（尽管偏离了殖民经济基础），并揭示了后殖民精英的作用，他们改变了政治阶层的社会经济基础，并改变了资本积累和劳动力商品化的过程。我认为，伴随着社会工程措施的国家建设过程代表了一个“关键时刻”，它冲击了国家自治及其官僚能力，并在发展战略上留下了不可磨灭的印记。本文阐述了三个被证明对经济政策结果具有重要影响的机制：(1) 精英制定政策的自主程度，(2) 社会阶层对抗经济政策的权力，以及 (3) 国家官僚机构执行政策的能力并分配资源。批判性的政治经济学视角超越了国家的具体化，并审视了“精英交易”和“社会讨价还价”之间的相互作用，为该地区不同的发展记录提供了细致入微的解释。