The Roots of Revolt : A Political Economy of Egypt From Nasser to Mubarak

"A conceptually rich, historically informed, and interdisciplinary study of the contentious politics emerging out of decades of authoritarian neoliberal economic reform, The Roots of Revolt examines the contested political economy of Egypt from Nasser to Mubarak, just prior to the Arab Uprisings of 2010-11. Based on extensive fieldwork conducted across rural and urban Egypt, Angela Joya employs an 'on the ground' approach to critical political economy that challenges the interpretations of Egyptian politics put forward by scholars of both democratization and authoritarianism. By critically reassessing the relationship between democracy and capitalist development, Joya demonstrates how renewed authoritarian politics were required to institutionalize neoliberal reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund, presenting the real-world impact of economic policy on the lives of ordinary Egyptians before the Arab Uprisings."-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title page 5 Copyright information 6 Contents 7 List of Figures and Tables 9 Figures 9 Tables 9 Acknowledgements 10 1 Neoliberal Authoritarianism in Contemporary Egypt 13 The Purpose and Scope of the Study 13 Capitalism and Democracy in Mubarak's Egypt 15 Resilient Authoritarianism and Networks of Privilege 21 Capitalism against Democracy 23 Accumulation by Dispossession 27 Class, State and Society in the Middle East 33 From Dispossession to Resistance to Revolt 44 Sources 46 Structure of the Book 47 2 The Developmentalist State and the Market Economy: From Nasser to Sadat 49 From Independence to Arab Socialism 49 Important Substitution Industrialization 54 Agrarian Reform 55 Workers and Peasants 58 The Contradictions and Limits of Arab Socialism 61 Economic Liberalization under Anwar Sadat 64 Class, Property and State Power 73 Crisis and Conflict: The Outcomes of Infitah 75 Conclusion 78 3 ''We Need the Government to Unleash Us, the Tigers'': Mubarak and the Neoliberal Turn 80 Accumulation, Dispossession and the Transformation of the State 80 The Crisis of the 1980s 84 The Neoliberal Turn, 1991–1995 88 The Minister of the Poor, 1996–1999 95 From Crisis to Consolidation, 1999–2004 99 The Government of Businessmen, 2004–2011 103 Neoliberal Class Formation 108 Conclusion 120 4 ''We Feed the Nation'': The Military as a Fraction of Capital 122 The Military as a Class Fraction 122 From Nationalist Revolution to Infitah 126 The Military under Nasser 126 The Military under Sadat 130 The Military under Mubarak 132 The Military and Economic Liberalization 138 The 2000s 143 Conclusion 149 5 The Mosque and the Market: The Muslim Brotherhood 151 The Muslim Brotherhood: Islam, the Market and the Moral Economy 151 Islamism against the State: The Brotherhood 155 Islam against the Left: The Brotherhood under Sadat 159 The Brotherhood under Mubarak 164 The Muslim Brothers and Economic Liberalization 167 The New Guard 171 Breakthroughs and Crackdowns, 2004-2010 175 Conclusion 178 6 ''Strike like an Egyptian'': Workers and the Collapse of the Authoritarian Bargain 179 The Corporatist Compromise and the Authoritarian State 179 Labour Market Dualism and Informality in the Egyptian Labour Market 182 Privatization, Liberalization and the Decline of the Corporatist Compromise 186 Increased Employer Power, Unemployment and Informality in the Labour Market 191 The Rise of Worker Protest 198 Conclusion 206 7 ''You Let the Dogs Eat the Peasants'': Peasants, Small Farmers and Accumulation by Dispossession 207 Agricultural Liberalization 207 Accumulation by Dispossession and Agrarian Change 209 The Expropriating State 213 The Violence of Dispossession 220 Dispossession for Industrial Development 225 Dispossession and Tourism and Luxury Development 229 Poverty, Agrarian Change and Rural Discontent 232 Contentious Politics, Collective Action and Class Struggle 236 Conclusion 239 Conclusion 241 Egypt under Mubarak 242 Accumulation by Dispossession and the Fragmentation of Egyptian Capital 245 Neoliberal Authoritarianism and Contentious Politics 247 Bibliography 249 Index 281 "Over the span of two weeks in mid-January 2011, reports of numerous self-immolations were surfacing in Cairo. On January 17, Abdou Abdel Monaam, a small restaurateur, set himself on fire in protest against a law preventing restaurant owners from buying subsidized bread, forcing him to buy bread at five times the subsidized price. On the same day, Mohamed Farouk Hassan, a lawyer, railed against rising prices before setting himself on fire. These immolations, clearly in emulation of the events that sparked the uprisings in Tunisia, sought to ignite the fires of popular protest against the Mubarak regime in Egypt."-- "The purpose and scope of this study," Page 1, opening paragraph "Over the span of two weeks in mid-January 2011, reports of numerous selfimmolations were surfacing in Cairo. On January 17, Abdou Abdel Monaam, a small restaurateur, set himself on fire in protest against a law preventing restaurant owners from buying subsidized bread, forcing him to buy bread at five times the subsidized price. On the same day, Mohamed Farouk Hassan, a lawyer, railed against rising prices before setting himself on fire. These immolations, clearly in emulation of the events that sparked the uprisings in Tunisia, sought to ignite the fires of popular protest against the Mubarak regime in Egypt"-- Provided by publisher Examining the contested political economy of Egypt from Nasser to Mubarak prior to the Arab Uprisings of 2010, this conceptually rich and historically informed interdisciplinary study presents the real-world impact of economic policy on the lives of ordinary Egyptians and will be of interest to scholars of political economy and Middle East studies.