Synopses & Reviews
The recent history and politics of Egypt illuminates the tortuous and often contradictory relationship between liberalization and democracy in Third World countries. Eberhard Kienle argues that the much-vaunted reform and liberalization of Egypts economy has been partial and selective, far from benefiting everybody. The author looks at how economic reform and liberalization have failed to produce a greater degree of political democracy: notions of elective pluralism, political accountability, clean elections, a genuinely free press, and the containment of police powers, which have turned out to be a great delusion masking restrictions on political participation and civil liberties. This book will shed much light on the dilemma between political and economic reform faced by so many developing countries today.
About the Author
Eberhard Kienle is Lecturer in Middle East Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, University of London) and Chair of its Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies.
Table of Contents
Egyptian Politics at the End of the 1990s * Illiberalism Prior to Deliberalization *
Deliberalization in the 1990s * Positive Liberties * Negative Liberties * Semblants of Liberalization * Liberties Restricted and Liberties Lost * The Judiciary Between Independence and Marginalization * The Logics of Deliberalization * The Beneficiaries of Restrictions * Conclusion: Historical and Theoretical Implications