Thirteenth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

This paper explores the alternative responses to neoliberal development that have emerged in the post-Arab uprising period in the Middle East and North Africa. A number of grass roots groups and organizations have mobilized their opposition to the extractivist development policies (around mining and fracking) by framing their opposition as an extension of an anti-colonial movement. In the process, these groups are actively contesting the knowledge framework at the heart of the current development strategies, by actively producing knowledge about development that is locally informed and that meets the needs of local communities along axis of social and environmental justice and ecological sustainability. As such, these movements position themselves not only against important and powerful global actors (international financial institutions and development agencies) but they also the state and domestic elites at the local level. What is the significance of these movements for redefining the political in a post-neoliberal era shaped increasingly by concerns around climate change? In other words, how are these movements shaping the nature of political discourse and resituating the economy and the state at the heart of the local struggles? With these questions in mind, this paper compares three alter-globalization movements that span Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia based on fieldwork and interviews carried out in the region in the fall of 2019.