How Capitalism Failed the Arab World

Richard Javad Heydarian is an Assistant Professor in political science at De La Salle University, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on international relations, and a policy advisor at the Philippine House of Representatives. He has authored more than 400 articles, policy papers, and op-eds on Asian geopolitical and economic affairs, writing for or interviewed by Foreign Affairs, BBC, Bloomberg, Aljazeera, Huffington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The National Interest, The Nation, among other leading publications.He is a specialist on foreign policy and economic development issues, he has served as a consultant to various local and international institutions.

How Capitalism Failed the Arab World is an intellectually and morally courageous analysis of how the interplay between global capitalist forces and local tyrannies fuelled one national uprising after another. This ambitiously conceived study takes us through the modern history of the Middle East with critical acumen and a careful eye for both global dynamics and local detail. Written with considerable flair and enthusiasm, How Capitalism Failed the Arab World is extremely relevant in understanding not only the roots of the Arab Spring, but also the challenges and predicaments, trials and tribulations, that have continued to unfold in its complex path of development.

• Foreword by Walden Bello1. A Brave New Middle East: The Birth of a New Era2. The Anti-Development State: Economic Origins of Arab Upheavals3. The Advent of Economic Globalization: A Prelude to Crisis4. The Great Recession: The Collapse of Arab Crony Capitalism5. The New Power Brokers: Political Islam and the Arab Summer6. Gulf Exceptionalism: How the Monarchies have Reshaped the Arab Spring7. Peering into the Abyss: The Arab Spring at the Crossroads8. Where Do We Go From Here? Finding the True Path to an Arab Spring