In this episode of Syria: Alternative Dialogues, Rabi Nasser hosts researcher Nabil Abdo for an in-depth conversation on the role of international financial institutions—primarily the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank—in shaping economic policies in the Arab region. The discussion examines how these institutions influence inequality, social justice, and economic sovereignty, with specific insights on the Syrian context.

The conversation unpacks the ideological and structural underpinnings of these institutions and explores how they have evolved—since their creation after World War II—into pillars of the global neoliberal order. Today, they often impose standardized austerity programs and economic conditions on countries in the Global South, with disproportionate burdens on the most vulnerable populations.

Key Themes in the Episode:

• Why is inequality a political lens for understanding economic and social crises
• How do international financial institutions function?
• Unequal power dynamics between the IMF/World Bank and countries in the region
• Austerity conditions: cutting public spending, lifting subsidies, and raising indirect taxes
• Who bears the cost of “economic reform”? Why are middle and lower classes hit the hardest?
• How are issues like gender, climate, and social protection co-opted into neoliberal technocratic narratives?
• The role of these policies in deepening dependency and undermining national sovereignty
• The intersection of IFI programs with conflict economies and post-war reconstruction
• The risk of separating the political transition from economic restructuring
• What lessons can Syria learn from other post-conflict countries?
• Prospects for alternatives: progressive taxation, universal social protection, and transnational alliances.

About the Guest:
Nabil Abdo is a researcher specializing in social and economic policy. He has worked on issues including development, labor, migration, informal economies, taxation, gender equality, and social justice. His professional experience includes working with institutions such as the International Labour Organization and ANND. He has also taught economics at the Lebanese American University in Beirut.

He holds a Master’s in Sustainable Development and Organizations from Paris-Dauphine University, France, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics with a minor in Political Studies from the American University of Beirut.

Currently, he serves as Senior Policy Advisor on International Financial Institutions at Oxfam International, with a focus on inequality and the IMF.

This episode is part of a special series on neoliberal policies in Syria and the region, produced by the Syrian Center for Policy Research in partnership with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

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