*Originally published in 2022 and preserved as part of our archive project. E-International Relations is free to read. We rely on reader support to make this possible.

Riccardo Fabiani is the Director of the North Africa Project at conflict-prevention NGO International Crisis Group, where he oversees work on Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Western Sahara. He has more than fifteen years of professional experience as a political analyst and economist on North Africa, having worked for Eurasia Group, Energy Aspects and other consultancies. Riccardo is also the author of “In Transition: North Africa’s Long Decoupling from Europe and the US”, “Tunisia and the International Community since 2011: Rentierism, Patronage and Moral Hazard”, and “Morocco, Tunisia and the politics of the EU’s list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions” (written with Chloe Teevan). 

Where do you see the most exciting research/debates happening in your field?

The conventional wisdom would be to say that social media analysis, the nexus between climate change and local and international politics, and quantitative approaches to social sciences are the most exciting and innovative fields. I wouldn’t disagree with this statement, as these approaches are indeed valuable and are changing our sector. However, I find that a field that is sometimes overlooked and is actually quite insightful is qualitative political economy. There is a lot of interesting research published by young researchers, who are taking a fresh look at various issues, such as patrimonialism, corruption and smuggling, and changing our understanding of these concepts. Rather than looking at new phenomena and trends, they are changing our pre-existing ideas and established wisdom – a contribution that I find very interesting.

How has the way you understand the world shifted over time, and what (or who) prompted the most important shifts in your thinking?

My thinking has evolved in stages that roughly correspond with my professional and academic experiences and the readings and conversations that these entailed. My initial focus was on the key role played by macro and international economic factors on countries and their international positioning: basically, the issue of economic resources. This has been my main concern for years: what drives economic development? How does development affect a country’s international standing and relations of power? My initial intellectual faith in the role of the market gradually evolved into a more complex and cautious understanding that developmental processes are basically chaotic experiences significantly affected by a country’s position in the web of international relations. I slowly realised that adopting supposedly business-friendly policies is not enough and can actually be an illusion, and that growing out of poverty is not linear, but rather the (sometimes intended, sometimes accidental) result of a series of trial-and-error approaches mired in messy politics and asymmetric ties. To these ideas, through my work at Energy Aspects and now at the International Crisis Group I have added a more precise and subtle understanding of the global energy markets, international relations and its intrinsic limitations, and conflicts’ devastating impact on developing countries. Overall, if I had to identify three authors that literally turned upside-down my understanding of the world, I would mention here Musthaq Khan’s political settlements approach, William Ferguson’s focus on collective action and development, and Herman Mark Schwartz’s outstanding history and analysis of international economic relations.

Recent years have seen Algeria recalibrating some of its relationships within the Maghreb and across the Mediterranean, as well as a notable shift in the tone of US-Algerian ties. Can you explain these developments?

For many years, domestic factors held back Algeria and its ability to weigh in on regional affairs. Firstly, it was President........

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