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Egyptian State Capitalism in Crisis: Economic Policies and Political Interests, 1967–1971

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Mark Cooper
Mark Cooper
Affiliation:
Yale University
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Extract

Most analyses of Egypt in the 1970s, whether political or economic, have a central concern, the liberalization policies of the Sadat regime. The reason for this focus is clear; rather striking and deep-seated changes took place in Egypt under the heading of that policy. Most analyses, however, suffer two major drawbacks; they fail to integrate the political and the economic and they take an approach with a very short historical vision. In doing so, they run the risk of critical misinterpretations of the nature of the policy, the regime, and the changes in Egypt.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , November 1979 , pp. 481 - 516
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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References

1 For highly critical, yet perceptive analyses see, El Khouly, Loutfi, ‘Une Overture a Doublt Face,’ Politique Aujourd'hui (May–july, 1974);Google ScholarShakir, T., The Issue of National Liberation and the Socialist Revolution in Egypt (Arabic) (Beirut, 197?).Google Scholar More sympathetic are Gray, Albert, ‘Egypt's Ten Year Economic Plan 1973–1982,’ Middle East Journal, 30 (Winter 1976), 36–49;Google ScholarWaterbury, John, Egypt: Burdens of the Past, Options for the Future (American Universities Field Staff Reports), part. 3.Google Scholar

2 Dekmejian, Hrair, ‘Marx, Weber, and the Egyptian Revolution,’ Middle East Journal, 30 (Spring, 1976), 158–173Google Scholar, had conceded the first point but still failed to see the second, ‘The political impact of Sadat's economic policies is an exciting area of research – and inquiry into the political economy of egypt?’ (p. 171).

3 Hansen, Bent and Nashishibi, K., Egypt: Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development (New York, 1976), chap. 5;Google ScholarMabro, Robert and Radwan, Samir, The Industrialization of Egypt 1933–1973 (Oxford, 1976), chaps. 3, 4;Google ScholarEl-Edel, D. M. R., ‘Economic Planning for Developing Countries: The Egyptian Experience,’ Institute of National Planning (hereafter, INP) memo. 1008, March 1972.Google Scholar

4 A comarative framework that can be used to locate Egypt can be found in Little, Ian, Scitovsky, Tibor, and Scott, Maurice, Industry and Trade in Some Developing Countries (Oxford, 1970);Google Scholar for data on Egypt see Aly, Muhammad Sultan Abu, ‘Experiences of the Harrod Domar Model as a Model of Economic Development with an Application to the Egyptian Experience’ (Arabic), L'Egypte Contemporaine, 352 (04 1973), 103–117;Google ScholarMontasser, Essam, ‘Egypt's Pattern of Trade and Development: A Model of Import Substitution Growth,’ L'Egypte Contemporaine, 356 (04 1974), 141–247.Google Scholar

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15 This is the key aspect of the political economy that underlies the two-gap stagnation structure.Google Scholar

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20 Mabro and Radwan, The Industrialization of Egypt, p. 40, use this adjective.Google Scholar

21 The version used in this work is found in Documents of Abdul Nasser, January 1967–December 1968 (Arabic), Center for Political and Strategic Studies, Al-Ahram (Cairo, n.d.).Google Scholar

22 Ibid., p. 377.

23 Ibid., pp. 377–378.

24 Ibid., p. 379.

25 Hussein, Class Conflict, chap. 8.Google Scholar

26 The point of class bias in the revolution has become universally accepted. See the review essay by Binder, Leonard, In a Moment of Enthusiasm (Chicago, 1978), chap. I.Google Scholar

27 Fadil, Development, Income Distribution and Social Change, conclusion; Radwan, The Impact of Agrarian Reform, conclusion.Google Scholar

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33 Al-Ahram, June 1968.Google Scholar

34 Minister of Economics and External Trade, Hassan Abbas Zaki, Arab Political Encylopedia, Documents and Notes (July–Dec. 1968), p. 100 (hereafter APE).Google Scholar

35 Ibid., p. 14.

36 Al-Ahram, Sept. 1968; Al-Goumhouriya, Aug. 1968.Google Scholar

37 APE, July–Dec. 1968, pp. 166–167.Google Scholar

38 Ibid., pp. 173–174.

39 Al-Ahram, Al-Goumhouriya, Aug. 1968.Google Scholar

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41 Ibid., p. 59.

42 There are two sets of records, one temporary, one permanent. References here are to the temporary records: Official Gazette, Legislative Section, Minutes of the National Assembly 12th session, 15 Feb. 1971 (Arabic) (hereafter, Minutes).Google Scholar

43 Ibid., p. 5.

44 Ibid., p. 6.

45 Ibid., p. 7.

46 See Sidqi, Aziz, Minister of Economics, 5 Feb. 1969, APE, Jan.–June 1969, p. 14.Google Scholar

47 Sidqi, Aziz, Conference of Administrative Leadership, Session on Administrative Problems in Industry, 27 09. 1968, p. 133 (Arabic).Google Scholar

48 Ibid., Session on Financial and Economic Reform, Hilmy Al A'yid, p. 37.

49 Sabri, Ali, Speech to the National Assembly (4 04 1964) (Cairo, n.d.).Google Scholar

50 Sidqi, Conference, p. 121.Google Scholar

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52 Sidqi, Conference, p. 122.Google Scholar

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54 APE, Jan.–June 1969; Al-Ahram, Aug. 1968, May–June 1969, March 1970.Google Scholar

55 Minutes, 13, 14 July, 1969.Google Scholar

56 Al-Ahram, Aug. 1968.Google Scholar

57 APE, Jan.–June, 1968, p. 98.Google Scholar

58 Ibid., p. 101.

59 Presidential Decree 46/1969, modifying Presidential Decree 2193/1967, which was already an increase: see APE, Minister of Agriculture, 6 Feb. 1969.Google Scholar

60 Springborg, R., ‘The Ties That Bind: Political Association and Policy Making in Egypt,’ unpublished Ph.D. diss., Stanford University, 1974, has a detailed discussion of the machinations around this law. He fails to see any systematic relationship between the law and the political economy. What Sprinborg takes as the nature of Egyptian politics and analyzes in one or two cases is placed within the larger framework of the political economy in this analysis.Google Scholar

61 APE, July–Dec. 1968, p. 51.Google Scholar

62 Ibid., p. 48.

63 See Springborg, ‘The Ties That Bind,’ and Adbullah, The Organization of the Public Sector, who take diametrically opposed views.Google Scholar Also, Hifagi, Shams al-Diene, Agricultural Cooperation, Thought and Law (Cairo, 1973) (Arabic)Google Scholar, Hamid, Fauzi Abdel, The Problem of Agriculture in Developing Nations and the Agrarian Reform Experiment in Egypt (Cairo, 1973) (Arabic);Google ScholarBasyuni, Sayid, Agricultural Possession: Between Fact and Law (3 vols.; Cairo, 1975, 1976) (Arabic).Google Scholar

64 28 Sept. 1970–1914 May 1971.Google Scholar

65 Official Gazette, 2 Feb. 1970.Google Scholar

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68 Hansen and Nashishibi, Egypt, chaps. 6 and 7.Google Scholar

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70 Mabro and Radwan, The Industrialization of Egypt, give an exhaustive discussion of Egyptian industrial statistics in their statistical appendix.Google Scholar

71 Fadil, Employment, has discussed this in the Egyptian case. See also, Hansen, Bent, ‘Employment and Wages in Rural Egypt,’ American Economic Review, 59 (Fall, 1969), 298–314:Google ScholarMabro, Robert, ‘Industrial Growth, Agricultural Unemployment and the Lewis Model: The Egyptian Case, 1937–1965,’ Journal of Development Studies, 3 (07, 1967), 322–352;CrossRefGoogle ScholarHanafi, Mohamed Nazem, ‘Surplus Labor and the Problem of Disguised Unemployment in the Egyptian Agriculture,’ INP memo., 1054, Dec. 1973Google Scholar