Syria, the MENA Region, and International Finance Capitalism

Abstract

The current Syrian conflict of 2011–14 is taking place within a regional and international context. Pressures have been applied to Syrian society, which involve external political and economic forces, specifically by Western-led sanctions policies, as well as by entities representing modern, globalized finance capital. In this paper, Syria is situated within a global economic context, where capital has been evolving to the present day, continuously developing new strategies in its drive to further encompass the entire world in its system.

Keywords:

• Syria
• finance
• debt

Notes on Contributor

Daniel Robicheau is a novelist, freelance journalist and adjunct instructor for Northern Arizona University who has taught courses on US Foreign Policy. He has contributed articles on Middle East issues for Peace Magazine, Monthly Review and the London Progressive Journal. He was a contributing writer of the book Hidden Casualties: The Environmental, Health and Political Consequences of the Persian Gulf War. He co-wrote and directed the documentary film From Radioactive Mines to Radioactive Weapons (now on YouTube) about the transformation of uranium into “depleted uranium” weapons of war. He is currently completing a novel based on the theme of psychological conditioning.

Notes

¹Please refer to the section “Crisis 1: Finance” in Peet (2011).

²Please refer to the section “Crisis 2: Disarticulation” in Peet (2011).

³See “Overview” and “Table 1” in World Bank (2012).

⁴For more details, see “Chapter 3: Private Capital Flows: Foreign Direct Investment & Portfolio” in UNDP (2011).

⁵Note: This last regional grouping would seem to be the most incongruent when Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are distant from each other in both physical and historical/cultural senses.