A Palestinian National Authority? An investigation of the World Bank's neoliberal influence on the emerging Palestinian national identity

Sammanfattning: Since the creation of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), donor involvement in Palestine has perversely influenced both an institution-building process and a de-mobilization and de-politicization of the Palestinian population. Some even say donors have effected a neoliberal reformation of society. This thesis intends to problematize the influence donors occupy over the incipient national identity by examining the World Bank’s influence in the political struggle of the construction and reformulation of the PNA’s identity. It attempts to trace the Bank’s neoliberal influence on the PNA’s identity formulated in the economic policy agenda in its four Reform and Development Plans. Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory is used to guide analysis and their conceptualizations of identity and hegemony are operationalized for methodology. The findings of this research suggest that the World Bank has influenced a progressive neoliberal transformation of the PNA’s identity.