Bankrupt: An Economic and Financial History of the Middle East from the 19th - 21st Centuries

This course critically examines the economic, and particularly, the financial history of the modern Middle East in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is structured chronologically and thematically. It starts in the mid-19th century by examining the role of European states, as well as private European investment firms and oil companies, in facilitating the colonization of the region via loans, capitulations, and extractive concession agreements. It then shifts to the post-colonial period, studying how western oil companies, banks, investment firms, and multi-national organizations shaped the trajectories of the newly-independent states in the Middle East.