De/stabilizing capitalism in the Middle East? Infrastructure, uneven development and the humanitarian-development nexus in Jordan and Lebanon

Responding to the Syrian refugee influx into Jordan and Lebanon, Western donors have shifted from an emergency response to a humanitarian-development nexus (HDN) that incorporates development donors and activities. The HDN aims to meet the needs of refugees and host populations by improving hosts’ infrastructure and services. While its promises for sustainable solutions to global forced displacement are compelling, I historically examine the HDN to question the political economic implications of its development-led approach. Situating the HDN within attempts to address challenges to capitalism in the Middle East, I argue that it reproduces capitalist relations and global uneven development with dually de/stabilizing implications. On the one hand, HDN infrastructure projects and financing mechanisms facilitate accumulation and serve key political interests for donors and host states, while reproducing hosts’ subordination to western interests. On the other hand, though they temporarily reproduce the status quo, these projects also deepen neoliberal reforms and inequalities within host states, potentially aggravating challenges to their ruling classes and western capitalist interests.