- 20 Jan 2015
Back to Square One? Economic and Social Policies after the Arab Spring
A Public Talk jointly brought to you by:
Abstract:
The transformations that have affected political institutions and regimes since the protests in 2010 and 2011 are not concomitantly reflected in economic and social policies. Even the increased popular legitimacy of elected governments has not translated into major departures from policies pursued under the previous authoritarian governments. Changes in key areas such as fiscal policy and taxation, the public-private balance, regulation, social protection, and integration into the world economy remain ultimately modest and limited to expansionary budget policies that are likely to be unsustainable.
Such continuities may find a variety of explanations, chief among them the constraints of ‘globalization’, the ‘world economy’ and capitalism that limit policy options. However, these continuities also confirm doubts as to the impact of institutions on policies in general and that of ‘democratic’ politics on distributional patterns in particular.
About the Speakers
Director
French Near East Institute (IFPO –Institut français du Proche-Orient) in Beirut
Eberhard Kienle is Directeur de recherche (research director) at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) and director of the French Near East Institute (IFPO –Institut français du Proche-Orient) in Beirut. He previously taught at St.Antony’s College, Oxford, the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, University of London), and at Sciences-Po in Grenoble and Paris. From 2001 to 2007 he was the head of the Institut de recherches et d’études sur le monde arabe et musulman (IREMAM) in Aix-en-Provence. From 2007 to 2010 he coordinated the programme ‘Governance and Civil Society’ at the Ford Foundation Middle East Office in Cairo. His publications include Ba’th versus Ba’th: The Conflict between Syria and Iraq, 1968-1989 (London, I.B. Tauris, 1990); A Grand Delusion: Democracy and Economic Reform in Egypt (London, I.B. Tauris, 2001) and Democracy Building and Democracy Erosion: Political Change north and south of the Mediterranean (London, Saqi, 2009).
Event Details
Level 6, Block B,
29 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Singapore 119620
