PAL PAPERS November 2014 1 A Resistance Economy: What is it and can it provide an alternative? A Resistance Economy: What is it and can it provide an alternative? Tariq Dana RE is also a counterhegemonic strategy that challenges the status quo, which is framed by Israel’s colonial subjugation of Palestinian land and resources and the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) neoliberal approach to economic development. Hence, RE is not a reformist approach that relies on an elitist, apolitical, and technocratic intervention to artifcially treat the multitude of economic ills within the existing paradigm. Rather, it is predicated on a revolutionary vision that makes visible the rootcause of the ongoing economic devastation taking place in the Occupied PalestinianTerritory (OPT) and seeks to construct a conscious counterhegemonic movement to the current dynamic in the OPT. The functionality and effectiveness of RE depends largely on the extent of its inclusiveness, democratic nature, and participatory dynamic. It requires broad representation and the active involvement of a wide range of social sectors and diverse political, economic, and civil society actors. On the one hand, it is popular in the sense that it is based on an organic relationship between local communities and their ability to determine their future. On the other hand, it is institutional since it necessitates a comprehensive institutional basecomprised of political structures, civil society organizations, the private sector, universities, research centers, and so on. Contrary to the conventional and mainstream economic models that characterize states’ economic governance and the top-down direction of economies, RE relies on bottom- up local initiatives as a major driver for its advancement and success. Therefore, common economic measurement tools and standards that assess economic growth in a vertical manner are irrelevant in the context of RE. Introduction: Defning Resistance Economy For the purposes of this paper, we are defning the Resistance Economy (RE) as an institutionalized form of economic struggle that envisages a transitional reorganization of the economy and social relations to be in harmony with the political requirements and objectives of the Palestinian national liberation process. In other words, RE is a politically driven economic development strategy underpinned by a set of social values and norms. Therefore, by its very nature, RE is a multifunctional and multidimensional strategy that aims to lay the foundation for the emergence of an emancipatory social order and solid political base in order to assist Palestinians in their struggle to achieve liberation and self-determination. Thus, the use of the term “resistance” in this paper refers to its economic and social dimensions and not its military ones.