The Politics of Egypt: State-Society Relationship

329 Pages·2012·4.752 MB·English

by  Fahmy, Ninette S

The Politics of Egypt

The Politics of Egypt
State-Society Relationship
Ninette S. Fahmy
ROUTLEDGE RTayoloru &t. lFerandcigs Gero up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First Published in 2002
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
Transferred to Digital Printing 2008
© 2002 Ninette S. Fahmy
Typeset in Janson by LaserScript Ltd, Mitcham, Surrey
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-7007-1610-6
Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this
reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original
may be apparent
Contents
List of Tables viii
List of Figures ix
Acknowledgements x
Introduction xi
ONE: Theories of State and Society 1
1. Introduction 1
2. Pluralism and the State 1
3. Marxist and neo-Marxist Theories of the State 8
4. Theories of the State in Third World Countries 21
5. Conclusion 28
TWO: The Historical Relationship between the State and
the Peasants 30
1. Introduction 30
2. The Rulers and the State 30
3. The Egyptian Personality 35
4. The Ruled Peasants 37
5. Conclusion 42
THREE: The Constitutional and Legal System in Egypt and
the Change to a Multi-Party System 44
1. Introduction 44
2. The Political System in Egypt 44
3. The Transformation from a Single-Party System to a Multi-Party System 56
4. Conclusion 65
FOUR: Political Parties in Egypt 66
1. Introduction 66
2. The Legal and Constitutional Constraints on Opposition Parties 67
v
CONTENTS
3. The Major Opposition Parties in Egypt: A Brief Introduction 71
4. An Evaluation of the Performance of the Opposition Parties 85
5. Factors Contributing to the Weakness of Political Parties 92
6. Conclusion 98
FIVE: Egyptian Professional Associations 99
1. The Historical Formation of Professional Associations 99
2. Corporatism in Theory and Practice 101
3. Limitations on Syndicates' Work 106
4. The Politicised Syndicates 110
5. The Performance of the Syndicates under Secular Forces 137
6. The Ascendancy of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Syndicates 143
7. Conclusion 148
SIX: Labour and Business Organisations 149
1. The Labour Movement 149
2. Businessmen's Associations 165
3. Conclusion 175
SEVEN: The Local System in Egypt: A Blocked Avenue for
Participation and Representation 177
1. Introduction 177
2. Historical Background 178
3. The Local System under Nasser 184
4. The Local System under Sadat 189
5. The Local System under Mubarak 195
6. Conclusion 197
EIGHT: The State, Peasant Politics and Development:
The Inherent Dilemma 198
1. Introduction 198
2. The Agricultural Crisis 199
3. Agrarian Policy from Nasser to Mubarak 200
4. The Co-operative Movement 207
5. Peasants' Political Behaviour 216
6. Conclusion 220
NINE: Tihna al-Gabal: A Case Study of a Village in
Upper Egypt 221
1. Introduction 221
2. Tihna al-Gabal 223
3. Tihna's Organisations and Representatives 226
4. Conclusion 240
vi
CONTENTS
TEN: Conclusion 242
1. The Nature of the Egyptian State 242
2. Strong State or Strong Society: the Current Debate 247
3. State-Society Relationship: Proposed Models 250
4. Can Egypt Change? 257
Notes 262
Bibliography 290
Index 303
vii
List of Tables
3.1a The number of Bills presented by Cabinet members and MPs
in the People's Assembly (1988-1991) 48
3.1b The number of Bills presented by Cabinet members and MPs
in the People's Assembly (1992-1996) 48
3.2a The Control Tools used by MPs in the People's Assembly
(1990-1993) 49
3.2b The Control Tools used by MPs in the People's Assembly
(1994-1996) 50
4.1 Political parties in Egypt and their source of legitimacy 71
4.2 Electoral turnout in the 1976-2000 elections 85
4.3 The results of the Egyptian parliamentary elections 1984-2000 87
4.4 Legislative performance of the Opposition in Parliament 91
4.5 Control performance of the Opposition in Parliament 91
5.1 The formation of Professional Syndicates 100
5.2 The beneficiaries of the health insurance projects in the
Syndicates 138
5.3 The Islamic trend in the Syndicates 143
5.4 The number of participants in the Doctors' Syndicate council
elections (1982-1992) 145
6.1 The density of union membership by economic sectors 158
6.2 The distribution of businessmen nominees in the 1995 elections
among the different governorates 173
8.1 The share of each of Egypt's provinces in the 1984 & 1995 elections 218
9.1 An estimation of the distribution of land ownership in Tihna al-Gabal 237
viii
List of Figures
10.1 Model 1: The Strong State Model 251
10.2 Model 2: The Weak State Model 254
10.3 Model 3: State-Society in Egypt 256
10.4 Change initiated in the Egyptian case 260
ix