The Dilemma of Authoritarian Local Governance in Egypt

by Hani Awad

Overview

The authoritarian upgrading process in Egypt has enabled the regime to have a more effective dominance in local politics and to enhance its political control. However, its strategies failed to overcome the weakness of system mobilisation functions, which reflected the authoritarian dilemma of bridging the macro (the national) and the micro (the local). Drawing on extensive fieldwork, Hani Awad explores the formal and informal decentralisation strategies employed under three regimes (Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak) to upgrade the Egyptian system of local governance without giving up power or democratising local governments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399502535
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	06/06/2022
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.63(d)

About the Author

Hani Awad is researcher in the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS), Doha Institute and editor of the Omran journal at the ACRPS. He previously worked as an academic assistant at the University of Birzeit, from where he received a master's degree in contemporary Arab studies. He has a PhD in international development from the University of Oxford and his research interests focus on a wide range of political and sociological topics. His published works include his book, Transformations of the Concept of Arab Nationalism (2012. Beirut: Arab Network for Research & Publishing [in Arabic]).

Table of Contents

Introduction: Centralised Structures and Decentralised Politics

1. Political Decentralization in Centralized Institutional Contexts: The Dilemma of Authoritarian Local Governance in Egypt
2. Centralized and Decentralized: The Authoritarian Upgrading of the Egyptian System of Local Governance
3. Alternative Local Politics: The Rise and the Fall of the Da’wa Movement
4. Clannism without Clans: The Ascendance of Kin-based Political Mobilization
5. System Collapsed: The Advent of Revolutionary Local Politics

Epilogue. A Regime Trusts No Grassroots: Local Governance under Sisi: Securitisation, Untrust and Uncertainty

Editorial Reviews

Well-researched and deftly argued, Awad's work fills an important gap in literature on authoritarian upgrading. Based on impressive fieldwork and extensive interviews, he traces how upgrading processes extended outward and downward from the national to the local level, reshaping municipal political landscapes in the process. Awad’s research deserves to be widely read. It represents a significant contribution to scholarship on contemporary Egyptian politics, urban politics, social mobilization, Islamist movements, and authoritarian upgrading.

Steven Heydemann