Publications

This section features timely contributions on Industrial Policy in the MENA region and the Global South. As industrial policy re-emerges on the global stage after decades of neoliberal orthodoxy, we explore how countries in the Global South can reclaim policy space and chart alternative development pathways. The papers presented in this section engage with debates on structural transformation, technological upgrading, job creation, and economic sovereignty, while critically examining the constraints imposed by global trade, finance, and climate governance regimes. We are particularly interested in industrial strategies that advance social prosperity, regional integration, and ecological sustainability, with a special focus on Green Industrial Policies. 

This working paper series delves into the diverse forms of neoliberal political-economic regimes across the MENA region, asking whether there is a unique “MENA variety” of neoliberalism. Taking a multi-scalar approach–spanning national, transnational and global perspectives–the series moves beyond rigid definitions of neoliberalism to develop a more flexible, analytical and contextualized framework. By unpacking the “moving parts” that constitute neoliberalism in MENA, it explores how the region’s response to the global crisis of the 1970s reshaped global economic ideas and practices. It also examines how these transformations differ from earlier economic models, challenging conventional understandings of neoliberalism and its historical foundations.