DOCSLIB.ORG

Army Officers and Land Reforms in Egypt, Iraq and Syria

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Army Officers and Land Reforms in Egypt, Iraq and Syria ARMY OFFICERS AND LAND REFORMS IN EGYPT, IRAQ AND SYRIA AYAD AL-QAZZAZ Sacramento State College The purpose of this paper is to discuss the performance and achievement of the officers who control the governments of Egypt, Iraq and Syria in the field of land reform (upto 1967). 1 The main issue which our discussion revolves around is how successful these "officer governments" are in achieving land reform. Also, the reasons that account for the variation in the performance of these three regimes will be discussed. Our discussion will not go beyond June 1967, because the six-day Arab-Israeli war of June 1967 introduced into the picture new elements and motiva- tions which must be taken into account in any study which extends beyond June 1967. Among these elements is the defeat of the armies of Egypt, Syria and, to a certain extent, Iraq. However, it is too early to assess and evaluate objectively and accurately the impact of this defeat on the implementation of land reform in these countries. SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS ON THE EVE OF LAND REFORM In the three countries under study, agricultural production pro- vides about two-fifths of total national income, absorbs well over half of the labour force, and brings in most of the foreign currency (except in Iraq where oil industry is more important). It also pro- vides support for perhaps three quarters of the population and constitutes the entire mode of life for most of the people. Prior to land reform these three countries suffered from inequality and misdistribution of land and agricultural income. Extreme polarization and disequilibrium existed, particularly in Iraq and Egypt, between a very small number of big landowners and a large number of small landowners who owned insufficient land to support a family of three or four. Moreover, the area owned by medium landowners was relatively insufficient (Baer 1952: 385). In Egypt, 160 SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN for instance, of 2,800,000 owners, two million owned one feddan or less each, with an average holding of half a fedddan (1 feddan = 1.038 acres), while 2,115 owned more than two hundred feddans each, with an average holding of 550 feddans. And among the latter, 188 held more than a thousand feddans each, with an average holding of 2,600 feddans (Gadallah 1962:13). In Iraq, 3,019 landowners possessed estates ranging from 100 to 1,000,000 donums (1 donum = 0.61 acres). The total area owned by this group was estimated to be 18,000,000 donums which included 600,000 owned by only 272 individuals (Mutar 1964: 287). In Syria the situation was less extreme. However, the landlords owned more than 60 percent of the country's cultivated land, and of that, over half was in the hands of less than 3,000 holders. The extent of such ownership is also indicated by the fact that in the Hamah district, the land of 110 out of 114 villages belonged to landlords Also, in the Akkari area east of Homs one estate included 60 villages (U.S. Army 1965: 249). This data shows us that side by side with poverty, squalor and wretchedness of the majority of peasants (fallaheen), we find most of economic and political power concentrated in the hands of a few landlords. Under such conditions, as is the case of most underdeveloped countries, agrarian reform became one of the most important steps necessary to arrest the galling poverty and to provide a starting point for economic progress and political stability. Important as it is, land reform however is of recent origin. It dates back only eighteen years in Egypt and twelve in both Iraq and Syria. Following independence from foreign control, the existing patterns of socio-political institutions were under the influence and control of the big landowners who benefited from the imbalance in the society. With industrial development only beginning, the land- lords were the strongest economic group in the country. They also enjoyed the social prestige and the high standing which traditionally in the Middle East is attached to the ownership of land.2 Land- ownership rather than any principle of inherited status depends on the amount of land inherited or acquired, not on any inherited title. This economic significance together with the social standing enjoyed by the landowners of big estates were responsible for the distribu- tion of the political power in their favour. Consequently, they were able to control and influence the political and economic institutions of their country and to have prominent say in the civic and national life (Harris et al 1958: 199). Winder's study on Syrian deputies LAND REFORMS IN EGYPT, IRAQ AND SYRIA 161 and cabinet Ministers shows that landowners constituted the largest group of deputies between 1919-1959 (1963: 11). Their percentage in the eight parliaments of this period was 38, 37, 52, 51, 54, 43, 33, and 42 respectively. Ze ltzer describes the civilian government of Syria in the following terms: (The government) "was a group of landowning families and large merchants who treated the country as if it were their own property; it controlled the high offices of the state and extracted from it open and concealed benefits" (1952: 238). Another investigation in Egypt by a newspaper found that among the 319 Egyptian members of parliament elected at the beginning of 1950, 160 were big landlords (Baer 1964: 208). War- riner, the noted British economist, asserted that in the thirty years of parliamentary government in Egypt not one measure was passed for the benefit of the fallaheen (1962: 11). On the contrary, one finds laws passed for the benefit of wealthy landlords. The decree issued by Ismail Sidky, the Prime Minister of Egypt in 1931, provides us with another pronounced example by which credit from agricultural banks was confined only to those who owned 200 feddans or more, which means, in the Egyptian context, big landowners. By this law millions of peasants were deprived of such credit when they were in dire need of it (Abdul Malik 1964 : 73). In Iraq too, the law No. 38 of 1933 specified the rights of the landowners and the obli- gations of the fallaheen. Paragraph 14 of the law stipulated that before the fallah could move from one place to another, he had to pay all his debts to the landowner, otherwise he would not get alternative employment anywhere else (Baer 1952: 389). This law practically converted the fallah and his family into land serfs who were bought and sold with the land. MILITARY OFFICERS: THEIR SOCIAL BACKGROUND AND ATTITUDES TO LAND REFORM Unlike the civilian governments, the military officers who assumed seats of power in Egypt, Iraq and Syria during the 1950s regarded reform as an important problem which deserved immediate atten- tion. 3 It seems to me that the reasons which underlay this commit- ment were as follows: 1. The army officers were recruited mainly from lower and middle classes. Thus they were closer to the feelings of the demoralized and defenseless masses and more sympathetic to 162 SOCIOLOGICAL BULLETIN their cause. 2. Land reform provided the military officers with some source of legitimacy. As they came to power by extra-constitutional means they needed some justification for their act and be- haviour. Land reform, besides being a potent psychological measure, provided them with a link with the masses of the peasants. Through land reform they tried to build up popular support in the hearts and minds of the millions of fellaheen who had lost hope of ever becoming owners themselves. 3. The third reason was to break the social and political power of the big landowners who resisted any programme of econo- mic and social reform (Qubain 1958: 24). We will have more things to say about this point as our analysis develops. Although it is outside the scope of this paper, it is interesting to compare the stand of army officers of Egypt, Iraq and Syria with that of Latin America's on land reform. The attitude of the latter group, with a few exceptions, was either unfavourable or indifferent toward land reform. The question, "What is the single most serious problem your country faces?" was put to several dozen officers interviewed in Honduras, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela. Not one mentioned land reform (Johnson 1964: 147). Even the most radical military reformer stopped short of sponsor- ing genuine agrarian reform that involved a programme of re- allocation and redistribution of land. This stand of army officers in Latin America was underlaid by two reasons. First, the officer corps was recruited mainly from upper and middle strata which believed firmly in the sanctity of private property. Second, the officers' ties and personal interests with the landholding elite made them look askance toward any revolutionary agrarian reform and distrust any legislation designed to circumscribe the landholders' freedom of action (Johnson 1964: 149, Lieuwen 1965: 146). NATURE AND SCOPE OF LAND REFORM The first land reform law was inaugurated in Egypt on September 7, 1952. This was less than two months after the military coup of July 23, 1952. The law was regarded by many observers as a highly revolutionary step. In Syria, land reform was introduced immedia- tely after the union with Egypt in 1958 (the union lasted only for three years and a half). In Iraq, land reform was among the first LAND REFORMS IN EGYPT, IRAQ AND SYRIA 163 important measures to be passed by the military government when it came to power on July 14, 1958. The laws in the three countries did not differ from each other in essentials but only in some minute details.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Land Reform and Bounded Rationality in the Middle East
    Domestic Conquest: Land Reform and Bounded Rationality in the Middle East Matthew E. Goldman A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2015 Reading Committee: Reşat Kasaba, Chair Elizabeth Kier Clark Lombardi Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Near & Middle Eastern Studies ©Copyright 2015 Matthew E. Goldman University of Washington Abstract Domestic Conquest: Land Reform and Bounded Rationality in the Middle East Matthew E. Goldman Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Reşat Kasaba Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies This dissertation examines the rise and fall of projects for land reform - the redistribution of agricultural land from large landowners to those owning little or none - in the Middle East in the mid 20th century, focusing on Egypt, Iraq, Palestine/Israel, Syria, and Turkey. Following the end of World War II, local political elites and foreign advisors alike began to argue that land reform constituted a necessary first rung on the ladder of modernization, a step that would lead to political consolidation, development, industrialization, and even democratization. Unfortunately, many land reform projects resulted in grave disappointments, leading to reduced agricultural output, increased rural poverty, political conflict, and more authoritarian rather than more democratic forms of government. As many policymakers and development experts themselves came to understand, an underlying cause of these problems was their failure to adjust land reform models to account for crucial variations in local political, economic, and ecological conditions. Using a method of similarity approach, this project asks why land reform projects so often sought to apply imported models in vastly different local contexts and then failed to adequately adjust these policy models to suit local realities.
    [Show full text]
  • Potential Self-Sufficiency in Major Egyptian Crops: Necessary Production and Price Policies As Estimated by an Econometric Model
    Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1982 Potential self-sufficiency in major Egyptian crops: necessary production and price policies as estimated by an econometric model Riad El-Sayed Emarah Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons, and the Agricultural Economics Commons Recommended Citation Emarah, Riad El-Sayed, "Potential self-sufficiency in major Egyptian crops: necessary production and price policies as estimated by an econometric model " (1982). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 7034. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/7034 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This was produced from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. While tl most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this docume have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the mater submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understai markings or notations which m'ay appear on this reproduction. 1.The sign or "target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Missing Page(s)". If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting through an image and duplicating adjacent pages to assure you of complete continuity.
    [Show full text]
  • MUNUC XXIX Cabinet of Egypt Background Guide
    THE CABINET OF EGYPT, 1954 MUNUC XXIX Cabinet Briefing LETTER FROM THE CHAIR Greetings Delegates! Welcome to the first cabinet meeting of our new government. In addition to preparing to usher in a new age of prosperity in Egypt, I am a fourth year at the University of Chicago, alternatively known as Hannah Brodheim. Originally from New York City, I am studying economics and computer science. I am also a USG for our college conference, ChoMUN. I have previously competed with the UChicago competitive Model UN team. I also help run Splash! Chicago, a group which organizes events where UChicago students teach their absurd passions to interested high school students. Egypt has not had an easy run of it lately. Outdated governance systems, and the lack of investment in the country under the British has left Egypt economically and politically in the dust. Finally, a new age is dawning, one where more youthful and more optimistic leadership has taken power. Your goals are not short term, and you do not intend to let Egypt evolve slowly. Each of you has your personal agenda and grudges; what solution is reached by the committee to each challenge ahead will determine the trajectory of Egypt for years to come. We will begin in 1954, before the cabinet has done anything but be formed. The following background guide is to help direct your research; do not limit yourself to the information contained within. Success in committee will require an understanding of the challenges Nasser’s Cabinet faces, and how the committee and your own resources may be harnessed to overcome them.
    [Show full text]
  • Seismic Shift: Understanding Change in the Middle East
    Seismic Shift: Understanding Change in the Middle East Project Director Ellen Laipson Contributing Authors Richard Cincotta James C. Clad F. Gregory Gause, III Robert Grenier Andrew Houk Andrew Marshall David Michel Courtney C. Radsch Corey Sobel Mona Yacoubian May 2011 Seismic Shift: Understanding Change in the Middle East Project Director Ellen Laipson Contributing Authors Richard Cincotta James C. Clad F. Gregory Gause, III Robert Grenier Andrew Houk Andrew Marshall David Michel Courtney C. Radsch Corey Sobel Mona Yacoubian May 2011 Copyright © 2011 The Henry L. Stimson Center ISBN: 978-0-9845211-8-0 Cover and book design by Shawn Woodley and Lacey Rainwater All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent from the Stimson Center. Stimson Center 1111 19th Street, NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Telephone: 202.223.5956 Fax: 202.238.9604 www.stimson.org Contents Preface .................................................................................................................................v Timeline of Events ............................................................................................................. vi Understanding Change in the Middle East: An Overview ............................................1 Ellen Laipson Sector Reports Academic and International Organizations The Middle East Academic Community and the “Winter of Arab Discontent”: Why Did We Miss It? ...............................................................................................11
    [Show full text]
  • The Politics of Neglect the Egyptian State in Cairo, 1974-98
    THE POLITICS OF NEGLECT THE EGYPTIAN STATE IN CAIRO, 1974-98 W. Judson Dorman A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PHD) SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES (SOAS) UNIVERSITY OF LONDON 2007 DECLARATION The work presented in this thesis is my own. All sources used are indicated in the footnotes and the References section, and all assistance received has been gratefully noted in the Acknowledgements. Any errors of fact, interpretation and presentation remain my own. W. Judson Dorman Date 2 ABSTRACT This thesis examines state-society relations in Egypt, and the logic of durable authoritarianism since 1952. It does so, through an examination of the Egyptian state’s neglectful rule, from the 1970s through the 1990s, of its capital Cairo. In particular, the thesis focuses on state inaction vis-à-vis Cairo’s informal housing sector: those neighbourhoods established on land not officially sanctioned for urbanization. Since the early 1990s—when Islamist militants used them to launch attacks on the Mubarak government—such communities have been stigmatized in Egyptian public discourse as threats to the nation’s social, moral and political health. Western scholars, by contrast, have valorized them as exemplifying popular agency. The central research question of the thesis is to explain why the Egyptian state has been unable to intervene effectively in these informal neighbourhoods—despite the apparent challenges they pose, the authoritarian state’s considerable unilateral power and the availability of western assistance. The short answer to the question, is that the very factors which sustain the authoritarian political order constrain the Egyptian state’s ability to intervene in its capital.
    [Show full text]
  • The Evolution of Irrigation in Egypt's Fayoum Oasis State, Village and Conveyance Loss
    THE EVOLUTION OF IRRIGATION IN EGYPT'S FAYOUM OASIS STATE, VILLAGE AND CONVEYANCE LOSS By DAVID HAROLD PRICE A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 1993 Copyright 1993 by David Harold Price . ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank the following people for their various contributions to the completion of this manuscript and the fieldwork on which it is based: Russ Bernard, Linda Brownell, Ronald Cohen, Lawry Gold, Magdi Haddad, Madeline Harris, Fekri Hassan, Robert Lawless, Bill Keegan, Madelyn Lockheart, Mo Madanni, Ed Malagodi, Mark Papworth, Midge Miller Price, Lisa Queen and Mustafa Suliman. A special note of thanks to my advisor Marvin Harris for his support and encouragement above and beyond the call of duty. Funding for field research in Egypt was provided by a National Science Foundation Dissertation Research Grant (BNS-8819558) PREFACE Water is important to people who do not have it, and the same is true of power. —Joan Didion This dissertation is a study of the interaction among particular methods of irrigation and the political economy and ecology of Egypt's Fayoum region from the Neolithic period to the present. It is intended to be a contribution to the long-standing debate about the importance of irrigation as a cause and/or effect of specific forms of local, regional and national sociopolitical institutions. I lived in the Fayoum between July 1989 and July 1990. I studied comparative irrigation activities in five villages located in subtly different ecological habitats.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction 1. RG 469, USOM/Egypt/C Subj Files, 1955–56, Box 6, Brooks Mcclure to W
    Notes Introduction 1. RG 469, USOM/Egypt/C Subj Files, 1955–56, Box 6, Brooks McClure to W. H. Weathersby, “Obliteration of Point Four Insignia by Egypt,” 16 April 1956. 2. RG 469, USOM/Egypt/C Subj Files, Box 9, Charles Jackson to Adm. Harold Stevens, “ICA Emblems on GM Locomotives,” 29 August 1956. 3. For example, see Gail E. Meyer, Egypt and the United States: The Formative Years (Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses, 1980); William J. Burns, Economic Aid and American Policy Toward Egypt, 1955–1981 (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1985); Peter L. Hahn, The United States, Great Britain and Egypt, 1945–1956: Strategy and Diplomacy in the Early Cold War (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991); Geoffrey Aronson, From Sideshow to Center Stage: U.S. Policy toward Egypt, 1946–56 (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1986); and Muhammad Abd el-Wahab Sayed-Ahmed, Nasser and American Foreign Policy, 1952–56 (London: LAAM, 1989). 4. For example, Ray Takeyh, The Origins of the Eisenhower Doctrine: The US, Britain and Nasser’s Egypt, 1953–1957 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000). 5. Burns’s work explicitly studies how effective American aid was in shaping Egyptian behavior. 6. The obvious exceptions to this are cases in which the U.S. government was seeking to mislead the government of another country. Since the creation of the CIA, however, such actions have generally fallen to that agency and have thus far remained classified. 7. See Abdel Latif al-Baghdadi, Memoirs, pt. 1 (Cairo: al-Maktab al-Misri al- Hadith, 1977, Ar.), Anwar al-Sadat, My Son, This is Your Uncle Gamal: Memoirs of Anwar Sadat (Cairo: Dar al-Hilal, 1958, Ar.); Rashed Barawy, Economic Development in the United Arab Republic (Cairo: Anglo-Egyptian Bookshop, 1970); and Abdul Ra’uf Ahmad Amr, The History of Egyptian- American Relations, 1939–1957 (Cairo: al-Haya al-Misriya al-Ama lil-Kitab, 1991, Ar.).
    [Show full text]
  • Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
    Towards a Relational Theorisation of Counterrevolution and Revolution: The Case of Modern Egypt 1805-2013 Ibrahim Halawi School of Politics, International Relations & Philosophy Royal Holloway, University of London April 2019 A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Abstract This thesis provides a theorisation of counterrevolution and revolution as continuous, interrelated, and evolving processes involving contentions over access to resources. Since, as this thesis argues, revolution and counterrevolution are contentions over access to resources, to understand both requires that we examine, not rising levels of anger or dissent, but structures of resource access. Moreover, since the contentions which define revolution and counterrevolution are best understood as continuous and inter-related processes, the events which are conventionally defined as ‘revolution’ and ‘counterrevolution’ are treated, in this thesis, as episodes of intensification within continuous processes. Finally, because of their inter-related continuity, both revolution and counterrevolution are seen as continuously evolving: neither phenomenon is static nor separable, either from each other or from its past experiences; as processes, both continue through learning from and building on previous contentions. To test these hypotheses, the thesis surveys the dominant counterrevolutionary and revolutionary contentions over a period of time within a given polity, using a combination of methods derived from political economy, elite studies, and historical
    [Show full text]
  • Ap Obrero E Puntes Pa Egipcio De Ara La Reco Esde Sus Onstrucc S Orígene
    Universidad de Chile Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades Departamento de Ciencias Históricas El movimiento obrero egipcio deesde sus orígenes hasta la actualidad: apuntes para la recoonstrucción de su historia Informe de Seminario para optar al graado de Licenciatura en Historia Elisa Morales Giménez Profesor guía: Ricardo Marzuca Butto Santiago de Chile 2013 Agradecimientos Agradezco a todos los profesores que enseñan, difunden e investigan historia universal en Chile, por permitirnos abrir una ventana al mundo que enriquece la vida académica e intelectual local. En particular, agradezco a mi profesor guía, Ricardo Marzuca; al profesor Zvonimir Martinic y al profesor Sebastián Salinas, quienes, con sus cursos y su labor en general, me han dado la oportunidad de acercarme a mi área de interés. ii Introducción................................................................................................................... 1 Capítulo I: Herramientas teórico-metodológicas para el análisis de la historia del movimiento obrero ................................................................................................. 8 1. Clase obrera y movimiento obrero .......................................................................... 8 2. El proletariado en los países coloniales y semicoloniales.................................... 12 3. Una historiografía del movimiento obrero ............................................................. 15 Capítulo II: Breve historia del capitalismo egipcio: formación y características de la clase obrera
    [Show full text]
  • The Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 1B: the Central Islamic
    THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF ISLAM VOLUME IB Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF ISLAM VOLUME IB THE CENTRAL ISLAMIC LANDS SINCE 1918 EDITED BY P. M. HOLT Professor of Arab History in the University of London ANN K. S. LAMBTON Professor of Persian in the University of London BERNARD LEWIS Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211 USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1970 Library of Congress catalogue card number: 73-77291 Hardback edition ISBN o 521 07567 x Volume 1 ISBN 0 521 07601 3 Volume 2 Paperback edition ISBN o 521 29135 6 Volume IA ISBN o 521 29136 4 Volume IB ISBN o 521 29137 2 Volume 2A ISBN o 521 29138 o Volume 2B First published in two volumes 1970 First paperback edition (four volumes) 1977 Reprinted 1992, 1995, 1997 Transferred to digital printing 2004 Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008 CONTENTS Preface page vi Introduction vii PART IV THE CENTRAL ISLAMIC LANDS IN RECENT TIMES MODERN TURKEY 527 &y KEMAL H. KARPAT, University of Wisconsin THE ARAB LANDS 566 iy E. N. ZEINE, American University of Beirut MODERN PERSIA 595 by K.M. SAVORY, University of Toronto ISLAM IN THE SOVIET UNION 627 by AKDES NIMET KURAT, University of Ankara COMMUNISM IN THE CENTRAL ISLAMIC LANDS 644 JJA.BENNIGSEN, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris and c.
    [Show full text]
  • Civil Society and EU Strategies in Egypt
    Working Papers No. 16, July 2018 In Search of a More Efficient EU Approach to Human Rights: Civil Society and EU Strategies in Egypt Jane Moonrises and Malafa Zenzzi This project is founded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme for Research and Innovation under grant agreement no 693055. Working Papers No. 16, July 2018 In Search of a More Efficient EU Approach to Human Rights: Civil Society and EU Strategies in Egypt Jane Moonrises and Malafa Zenzzi1 Abstract This report aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the EU’s strategy to promote human rights and democracy in Egypt. Largely based on instruments devised within the framework of the EMP and ENP, the EU wishfully counted on a spill-over effect from trade to political reform as well as onto actors’ socialization. This strategy fell prey to Mubarak’s “carrot-and-stick” approach to the nascent NGO sector and its adjusted policy discourse that resonated with Brussels. Drawing upon Mubarak’s mistakes, the post-Revolution regime morphed into an overtly repressive apparatus designed to “kill” civil society and prevent a new 25 January. In this context, is engaging at all costs in political dialogue relevant? Did the EU foreign policy manage to follow suit with Egypt’s political evolution? How can the EU draw upon its past mistakes to craft a more efficient approach to human rights? How can the EU’s economic and political leverage be best used? Introduction Egypt’s grim human rights and democracy record is deeply rooted in the regime’s ability to adjust to ever-changing circumstances.
    [Show full text]
  • Prime-Time Nationalismnationalism
    Prime-timePrime-time NationalismNationalism TheThe rationalrational andand economiceconomic underpinningsunderpinnings ofof thethe JuneJune 3030 nationalistnationalist “hysteria”“hysteria” Osama Diab Dissertation presented in fulfilment of the requirements for a PhD degree in Political and Social Sciences 2018 Faculty of Political and Social Science Ghent University Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Sami Zemni Co-Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Jo Van Steenbergen Prime-time Nationalism The rational and economic underpinnings of the June 30 nationalist “hysteria” Osama Diab Dissertation presented in fulfilment of the requirements for a PhD degree in Political and Social Sciences 2018 Faculty of Political and Social Science Ghent University Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Sami Zemni Co-Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Jo Van Steenbergen 2 To Iman Khattab, who lived long enough to see the start of this project, but left me too early to witness its end. 3 The Fatherland was the home wherein God has placed us, among brothers and sisters linked to us by the family ties of a common religion, history, and language. – Giuseppe Mazzini We have […] a single, universal language. And we possess a religion which most of us share, ways of performing our activities, and a blood which is virtually one flowing in our veins. – Ahmed Lotfy al-Sayyid 4 Acknowledgements I have a large number of “invisible hands” that have unknowingly contributed to the completion of this dissertation. I would therefore like to start by thanking those who might not have contributed directly to this project, but whose support was still indispensable to its completion. I would like to first express my gratitude to my colleagues at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) who have been very patient and understanding of my frequent PhD disappearances, and have shown nothing but support throughout the long months of writing this dissertation.
    [Show full text]