Robert Springborg

The Political Economy of the Arab Spring

The so-called ‘Arab Awakening’ is a momentous event that surprised both scholars and policy makers. For over a decade the paradigm of authoritarian resilience had dominated studies of the Arab world, almost entirely replacing the democratization paradigm that had been prominent throughout the 1980s and 1990s. This inter-paradigm debate on how best to explain and interpret the politics of the Arab world now calls for a review, in light of the Arab uprisings. The contributions to this themed issue offer a first attempt at highlighting some of the theoretical issues that should inform our rethinking of this debate thus far. Overall the issue thus aims at making a theoretical contribution by providing a deeper insight into the socio-economic–political structures and the new actors that led to the uprisings in the Arab world. It also explores and considers the opportunities and constraints that these structures offer for sharpening our theoretical tools – which may in turn lead us to use the paradigms and models available to us more flexibly. The case studies that this themed issue deals with by no means exhaust all the issues and case studies that need to be re-thought since the Arab uprisings of December 2010 to date. The aim is to provide useful insights for others to apply more broadly across the whole region.

Whither the Arab Spring? 1989 or 1848?

Potential Arab democratic transitions will face more substantial obstacles than Eastern Europe did in 1989. Those obstacles include the intense securitisation of the Middle East, the absence of agreed upon models for future polities and economies, the residual power of authoritarian systems, and the limited capacities of newly emerging political and civil societies. Even the poster children of the Arab Spring, Tunisia and Egypt, are not well equipped to imitate the success of Eastern European countries. The Arab Spring of 2011 may thus be more akin to the 1848 failed revolutions than to the democratic transitions set in motion by the crumbling of the Soviet Union in 1989.

The Precarious Economics of Arab Springs

The much-hoped-for virtuous spiral that would lift Egypt and the broader Arab world out of economic stagnation and strengthen democracy seems far away.

Professional Syndicates in Egyptian Politics, 1952-1970

In recent years the political roles of the Peoples Assembly, the Arab Socialist Union, town and village councils, labor unions, and other Egyptian governmental structures have been analyzed. Interestingly enough, most observers would probably agree that the Egyptian parliament is for the most part a rubber stamp; that Egypt is a partyless and not a one-party state; that it lacks a viable system of local government as distinct from the prevailing system of provincial administration; and that labor unions are official but not truly behavioral entities. In short, the Egyptian policy is dissected with conceptual tools borrowed from traditional institutional analysis, while it generally is recognized that Egyptian politics are not institutionalized, or, to use Moores term, are ‘unincorporated’. This contradiction merits comment.

Impediments to the transfer of Australian dry land agricultural technology to the Middle East

Abstract Projects which were designed and initiated in the 1970s or early 1980s to transfer Australian dry land agricultural technology to the Middle East have recently or are just about to reach the end of their contract lives. It is possible that a second generation of projects may not follow on from the first, in part because the projects have achieved only limited success. Problems that have been encountered are of both a technical and human organizational nature. Among the former, the most critical issue has been the relatively poor performance of species of Medicago , self-seeding annual legumes. Australian agronomists are divided in their opinions as to the potential of ley pastures and on the means of transferring a farming system based on those pastures. Problems of human organization that have presented the greatest challenges are those of different and changing patterns of land tenure and livestock management, as well as national agricultural policies inimical to the ley farming system. New strategies for technology transfer need to be developed on the basis of a systematic review of how Australian dry farming technology is to be packaged, who is to take primary responsibility for transferring it and to whom it is to be transferred.

Economic Involvements of Militaries

Middle East militaries can be arrayed along a continuum from more to less involvement in national economies, albeit with a few outliers. At the maximum engagement end are Egypt and Iran. In both countries, as in Pakistan, one can reasonably refer to the existence of a “Military, Inc.” The Egyptian Ministry of Defense and its subordinate Ministry of Military Production preside over a sprawling economic empire that directly owns companies active in the industrial, agricultural, construction, telecommunications, and service sectors. The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps presides over a similar economic empire that has particularly strong positions in the oil field service, construction, port operation, and media and telecommunications sectors. Both countries also have what might be described as parallel “officer economies.” These have come into existence as a result of officers, many of them retired, capitalizing on their regime connections by gaining ownership of privatized state-owned enterprises or by forming companies that thrive on state contracts. These two military economies are subject neither to the effective oversight of legislative or nonmilitary executive authority nor to the scrutiny of civil society, including the media. Both provide essential patronage resources to ensure the loyalty of their officer corps. And in both countries, military preparedness and overall capacities suffer as a result of preoccupation with the management of and benefits from military economies.

Political Islam and Europe - Views from the Arab Mediterranean States and Turkey

The social, political and economic power of moderate Middle East and North African Islamist movements has been growing for a generation or so. The question of how to deal with Islamists who reject violence, embrace democracy and outperform their competitors at the polls has therefore become a central concern not only of incumbent Middle East elites, but also of interested foreign actors such as the EU and US. Robert Springborg sees the need for the EU to clarify its policies towards the MENA region and Muslim democrats within it. The present lack of EU policies on engaging with moderate Islamists leads them to be at best curious about the EU and at worse to be suspicious of it. Engagement might itself help to contribute to policy formation in this important area, and serve as a vehicle to disseminate information about relevant EU policies.

In search of Egypt

R. Hrair Dekmejian, Egypt under Nasir: A Study in Political Dynamics, Albany, State University of New York Press, 1971, 368 pp..

Caudillismo along the Nile

10.00. Iliya F. Harik, The Political Mobilization of Peasants: A Study of an Egyptian Community, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1974, 309 pp.,

Egypt: State, Society and Energy Caught in a Vicious Circle

12.50. James B. Mayfield, Rural Politics in Nassers Egypt: A Quest for Legitimacy, Austin, University of Texas Press, 1971, 288 pp.,