| This dissertation traces how the rise and expansion of capitalism---from mercantilism to liberalism to neo-liberalism---have affected the Palestinian space from the 16th century until the late 1990s. The facilitation of global capitalism in the Middle East brought with it the initial round of destruction of the Palestinian space in 1948. The second round of destruction has been unfolding since the last quarter of the 20th Century.;Chapters 1--4 address research methodology, theoretical argumentation and the literature of development/underdevelopment.;Chapter 5 addresses the trialectical relationships between economic restructuring, political liberalization and social re-engineering at the global levels in the current phase of globalization. This chapter discusses civil and political society and the extended state; organic crisis and organic intellectuals; passive revolution, democracy promotion, human rights, free and fair elections and polyarchy; transnational civil society, networks and NGOs; and deregulation, privatization, de-industrialization, disinvestment, structural adjustment and the new transnational division of labor.;Chapters 6--10 address the production and reproduction of the Palestinian space---i.e. the dramatic socio-economic and socio-political changes taking place in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the neo-liberal era. Henri Lefebvre's "production of space" theory serves as the theoretical foundation. Three case studies---Palestinian civil society and NGOs, the Bethlehem 2000 tourism project and proposed industrial zones---illustrate the impact of the interaction between local and global forces on the development process. |
