The Political Economy of Development

Part One: Authoritarianism

With: Bassam Haddad

This lecture examines the character and strategies of economic development in authoritarian regimes. It emphasizes state- business relations and the combination of neoliberal prescriptions, class, and institutions of authoritarian control.

Readings, Video, and Additional Information: surplus-value.org/authoritarianism

Part Two: Oil

With: John Warner

This lecture addresses the intricacies and intersections of oil, authoritarian rule, and regional/international relations in the Arabian Peninsula. The focus will be on the structures of oil economies and implications thereof.

Readings and Additional Information: surplus-value.org/oil

Part Three: Supply Chains

With: Ben Mckean

Dramatic deaths in the factories that assemble iPhones in China and apparel in Bangladesh have drawn attention to the global supply chains that link manufacturers to multinational brands and consumers. Despite this popular attention, supply chains remain incompletely theorized as forms of governance and modes of power. Focusing on the impressive mobility of multinational corporations and the extensive dispersal of their supply chains across the globe often leads analysts to assume that supply chains exemplify the logic of neoliberalism. However, examining the actual functioning of supply chains complicates this view. Reflecting on the way that supply chains rely on practices that run counter to neoliberal self-understandings, leads to an account of global supply chains as a political form that foregrounds their relationship to the freedom of workers and consumers.

Readings and Additional Information: surplus-value.org/supply-chains