View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Cadmus, EUI Research Repository Bread, Freedom, Human Dignity The Political Economy of Protest Mobilization in Egypt and Tunisia Jana Warkotsch Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of Political and Social Sciences of the European University Institute Florence, August, 2014 submission European University Institute Department of Political and Social Sciences Bread, Freedom, Human Dignity The Political Economy of Protest Mobilization in Egypt and Tunisia Jana Warkotsch Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of Political and Social Sciences of the European University Institute Examining Board Professor Donatella della Porta, (EUI Supervisor) Professor Philippe Schmitter, European University Institute Professor Jeff Goodwin, New York University Professor Emma Murphy, Durham University © Jana Warkotsch, 2014 No part of this thesis may be copied, reproduced or transmitted without prior permission of the author ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are many people who accompanied me on the way to completing this thesis and who deserve my heartfelt gratitude. Institutionally, the EUI and my supervisor Donatella della Porta have provided me with the best environment in which to develop my research that I could have hoped for. Many of its scholars and students have provided valuable feedback along the way and its open academic culture allowed for exploring ideas across disciplinary boundaries. In addition, my jury consisting of Philippe Schmitter, Emma Murphy and Jeff Goodwin, provided insightful and thought provoking comments. Thanks also go to the many people that I have met and interviewed along the way, who have provided their time, insights, and personal stories. My time at the EUI would not have been the same without the many people that populated its halls and became close friends and fellow sufferers through the ups and downs of thesis writing. Amongst the many, special mentions go to Kevin Koehler, who to this day is one of the most inspiring academics and friends I know, Hanna Schebesta, Frederique Roche, Chris Bannister, Luisa Lourenco, Donagh Davis, Marco Rizzi, Johanna Croon, Sophie Besancenot and many many more. I want to thank you all for the fun, and distractions, the dinners, drinks, and talks, the mutual support and friendship throughout my years at the EUI. Last but not least, on the most personal level, I want to thank my partner Yannick Fischer, who was my sustenance and support in these last, intense years of finishing my dissertation, and my family, whose continued support throughout my education enabled me to write this thesis to begin with. Thank you. Jana Warkotsch 4 Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 8 Part I ............................................................................................................................................... 12 2. THE STATE, MODERNIZATION AND POLITICAL OPPORTUNITIES .................................... 13 Collective Behavior ................................................................................................................ 17 Political opportunities between structure and agency ............................................................... 20 From Resource Mobilization to Political Opportunities ...................................................... 23 The turn towards subjectivism: Critiques and Reformulations ............................................ 25 Authoritarianism studies – ebbs and flows................................................................................ 30 1st Wave Studies ..................................................................................................................... 31 2nd Wave Authoritarianism ..................................................................................................... 34 Theory conclusion – what’s the take away? .......................................................................... 39 3. SPHERES OF MOBILIZATION AND INTERACTION ............................................................. 40 4. METHODS .......................................................................................................................... 48 Part II ............................................................................................................................................. 52 5. THE UPRISINGS .................................................................................................................. 53 Tunisia .................................................................................................................................... 53 Egypt ....................................................................................................................................... 60 6. ROAD TO REVOLUTION – THE ORIGINS OF REGIMES AND STRUCTURES OF INCORPORATION ........................................................................................................................ 65 Tunisia .................................................................................................................................... 67 Egypt ..................................................................................................................................... 101 Historical Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 137 Part III .......................................................................................................................................... 138 7. COMPARISON .................................................................................................................... 139 Opposition Sphere ............................................................................................................... 144 Workers sphere ................................................................................................................... 165 Islamists ................................................................................................................................ 176 Popular Sector ...................................................................................................................... 191 Middle classes ...................................................................................................................... 209 Preliminary Comparative Conclusion ................................................................................. 220 8. Conclusion............................................................................................................................ 226 References .................................................................................................................................... 234 Interviews ..................................................................................................................................... 252 5 6 List of Abbreviations AISPP International Association for the Support of Political Prisoners ALTT Tunisian Association for Struggle Against Torture ATFD Tunisian Association of Democratic Women ASU Arab Socialist Union CNLT National Committee for Liberties in Tunisia CPR Congress for the Republic EFTU Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions ENP European Neighborhood Policy FDTL Democratic Forum For Labour and Liberties FY Fiscal Year GDP Gross Domestic Product GNP Gross National Product ICT Information and Communications Technology IFI International Financial Institutions IMF International Monetary Fund LDTH Tunisian Human Rights League MB Muslim Brotherhood MDS Movement of Socialist Democrats MENA Middle East and North Africa MTI Islamic Tendency Movement NGO Non Governmental Organization NDP National Democratic Party OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development PCOT Communist Worker’s Party of Tunisia PCT Tunisian Communist Party PDP Progressive Democratic Party POS Political Opportunity Structures PSD Socialist Destourian Party PSO Public Sector Organization PUP Party of People’s Unity RCD Constitutional Democratic Rally RM Resource Mobilization RSP Progressive Socialist Rally SMT Social Movement Theory SOE State Owned Enterprise UDC Union of Unemployed Graduates UDU Unionist Democratic Union UGET General Union of Tunisian Students UGTT Tunisian General Trade Union USAID United States Agency for International Development UTICA Tunisian Union for Industry Commerce and Handicraft 7 1. INTRODUCTION When the Arab spring started in the marginalized interior areas of Tunisia and spread to the densely populated capital of Egypt, removing two of the longest-standing dictators in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), it left observers and scholars with many puzzles to solve. After all, this was a region studied for its sturdy resistance to pressures for democratization. Scholars who had predominantly been occupied with understanding the unusual stability of Middle Eastern autocracies suddenly found themselves in need to explain the opposite – their unexpected vulnerability in the face of popular resistance. Their theories it seemed, were ill equipped for the task. Emerging out of the democratization-focused transitions literature, authoritarianism studies had in recent years departed from asking how institutions could push along democratization, to focus instead on how even seemingly democratic