From Palestine to Iran and Lebanon, the Middle East stands at the centre of a widening planetary crisis. This talk traces how the region was drawn into the making of contemporary capitalism and the rise of American power from the mid-twentieth century onward. It examines more recent transformations, especially the rise of the Gulf states and their place in sharpening geopolitical rivalries and the relative decline of US hegemony. It concludes by reflecting on what these developments might mean for anti-capitalist strategies in an age of war and climate breakdown.
Adam Hanieh is a professor in the Department of Development Studies and director of the Middle East Institute at SOAS, University of London. He is the author of several books on issues of political economy and the Middle East, including Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market (Verso Books 2024) and Resisting Erasure: Capital, Imperialism and Race in Palestine (Verso 2025), co-authored with Rafeef Ziadah and Robert Knox.
Screening schedule
- Dokukino KIC
