The history of Syrian economic thought is often relayed as a story of translation of ideas from elsewhere. Challenging such assumptions, Nader Atassi shows how Syrian intellectuals and politicians developed economic ideas in response to historical conditions such as local peasant revolts, capitalist transformation, and imperialist encroachment. Ultimately, the talk traces how late Ottoman-era economic visions were later mobilized by the Syrian nationalist movement, as critiques of French economic policy became a central way the movement articulated grievances against the French occupation. 

Nader Atassi is a UC Presidents Postdoctoral Fellow in History at UC Berkeley

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