The loss of control over processing agricultural goods, such as turning grains into flour, have made it easier for the regime to punish large regions with starvation, and will in the future make it easier for foreign powers to grab hold of Syria through its dependent state.
Colombian-American anthropologist Arturo Escobar is one of Latin America's leading voices on post-development theory and political ecology. In this interview, he outlines development paths for the continent to follow, somewhere between modernisation, decolonisation and economic growth.