Political Economy of Neoliberal Approaches to Conflict Resolution and Statebuilding in the Occupied Palestinian Territories 1993 to 2013

Abstract

This article explores the political economy of the international statebuilding agenda in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). The extent of this agenda, and its evident political determination, points to conscious efforts to transform social relations in a manner seen as conducive to a particular vision of peace. Influenced by neoliberal conceptualizations of development and the state, the practice and results of this agenda on the ground strongly contradict the utopianism of its international adherents. This leads one to question aspects of the agenda’s intentions, which are too often veiled behind impenetrable curtains of power.