Economic Reform and Authoritarianism in Egypt: Politics, Power and Patronage

Egypt’s recent economic reform agenda has been particularly advanced by a newly composed regime that reflects a modified overlapping of politics and business. Politicians with a business background are certainly not a new phenomenon in Egypt’s long history of authoritarian rule. This time we rather witness the prominent role of entrepreneurs with political and economic interests which they are seeking to implement by gaining a stronghold in the ruling élite and by taking over key posts in politics, business and society. Their role in politics differs from each other but they all have one thing in common: they are more or less close associates of Gamal Mubarak, second son of President Hosni Mubarak and strong advocates of Egypt’s economic turnaround, what the opposition daily al-Ghad prompted to classify as the new ‘board of directors that runs the country’ (Fakri, 2006).1 The Egyptian government has implemented a large number of reforms and has embarked on concrete plans to restructure the financial/ banking sector, to adjust regulations, to enhance trade liberalisation and has recommitted itself to the privatisation programme originally launched in the early 1990s. After President Mubarak had undergone surgery for a slipped disc in Germany in 2004, the cabinet reshuffle shortly after his return was seen as a move to regain the domestic initiative regarding the weak economic performance of previous governments.