Egypt: A Fragile Power

The book provides a comprehensive account of contemporary Egypt's political and economic features,challenging common assumptions about secularists,Islamists,and revolutionaries,and discussing state-building activities,domestic politics,economic change,and external relations since 1945. It remains a (lower) middle-income country and suffers from autocratic rule due to the interplay between political forces and economic policies.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 228 pages
Publication date: 19 November 2021
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Focusing on authoritarian rule, unresolved economic challenges, and external dependency, this comprehensive volume delves into the salient political and economic features of contemporary Egypt against the backdrop of its history since the beginning of the 19th century. Presenting a comprehensive account of developments, it challenges common assumptions about secularists, Islamists, and revolutionaries, as well as modernization, economic reform, and political stability. Discussing domestic politics, economic change, and external relations since 1945, the author argues that Egypt continued to draw a degree of strength from sustained state-building activities, which its pre-colonial rulers could pursue in a favorable international environment and the partly related emergence of the country as a focal point of collective identity. More consolidated than many other states in the global south, Arab and non-Arab alike, independent Egypt, despite changing economic strategies, remained a (lower) middle-income country and despite repeated political contestation, most recently in the Arab Spring, continued to suffer from autocratic rule. Such continuity reflects not only the interplay between political forces at home, dominated by the military, and inconclusive economic policies but also the external constraints under which governments and other actors in the global south have to act.

Based on numerous primary and secondary sources in various languages, including Arabic, and years of fieldwork, this book is a key resource for scholars of all levels, journalists, policymakers, and diplomats interested in comparative politics and the political economy of the Middle East and Egypt.

Weight: 382g
Dimension: 154 x 233 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781138339170