Neoliberalism With Salafi Characteristics

And Houthis, houthis, houthis

So much is going on we are double dipping today to provide some really good analysis of Middle Eastern developments!

Neoliberalism With Salafi Characteristics

Djene Rhys Bajalan (who is a buddy of mine from St Antony’s and a truly fascinating chap)

For many Syrians, the events of December 2024 had a surreal quality. After nearly a decade and a half of brutal civil war, it had seemed that the regime of Bashar al-Assad had fended off any serious challenges to its authority. Assad and his supporters may not have been able to deliver a killing blow to the various opposition forces in the country, but they had managed to confine them to the country’s periphery. That all changed in late November, when Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Sunni Islamist group led by former al-Qaeda militant, Ahmad al-Sharaa, launched a lightning offensive from its stronghold on the Turkish-Syrian border, which brought an end to more than half a century of Assad family rule within a matter of weeks.

Syrians and members of the international community alike greeted the fall of the regime with a mix of optimism and apprehension. Although many Syrians are glad to see the back of Assad, the shadow of ethnic conflict and religious sectarianism looms over the war-torn country. Despite its official commitment to secular Arab nationalism, the social and political base of the Assad regime was firmly rooted in the country’s minority Alawite sect. In contrast, al-Sharaa hails from Syria’s Sunni majority and represents a Salafi-jihadist tradition that shares its political DNA with groups like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

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In response, the new Syrian government has announced a wide-ranging program of privatization of state-controlled infrastructure and industries as part of a bid to attract foreign investment in the country. As Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani told the Financial Times in January, ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, “there needs to be clear messages to open the way for foreign investors, and to encourage Syrian investors to return to Syria.” At the same time, ministers (perhaps channeling the spirit of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency) have also promised to slash the number of Syrians on the government payroll from 1.3 million to 900,000 as part of an effort to clamp down on waste and corruption.

In adopting the language of neoliberalism, Syria’s Islamist government has apparently abandoned any dreams they may have once held of reviving the caliphate in favor of “neoliberalism with Salafi characteristics”: a vision of a future in which development is measured in mosque and mall construction—a new Syria in which stylish young women purchase designer hijabs before enjoying an opulent iftar meal at TGI Fridays.

Read the whole article here: https://www.compactmag.com/article/neoliberalism-with-salafi-characteristics/

And for Paid Members More on the Houthis And the possible next round of Middle East War