| ID | 173865 |
| Title Proper | Politics of public land dispossession in Egypt |
| Other Title Information | 1975–2011 and beyond |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Koussa, Ziad |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | This article examines changes in the allocation of urban land in Egypt between 1975–2011 with the rise and incorporation of state authoritarianism and neoliberal economics in what I call ‘authoritarian neoliberalism’. Authoritarian neoliberalism in Egypt transferred ownership of urban lands from public wealth to an affluent class of local and foreign capitalists – often in a non-transparent fashion. The article focuses on the government's legally sanctioned practices of subsidisations, privatisations and evictions as they relate to what I call, inspired by David Harvey's formulation, the accumulation of wealth by dispossession. Dispossession of public urban land, I maintain, generated widespread resentment that played a vital, but inadequately discussed, role in the series of revolts that culminated in the 2011 uprising in Egypt. Social tensions engendered in this authoritarian neoliberal regime, I argue, endure under the administration of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who continues to transfer public urban lands, from lower to higher socioeconomic classes, at an even faster pace than his predecessor. |
| `In' analytical Note | Journal of Modern African Studies Vol. 58, No.2; Jun 2020: p.235-255 |
| Journal Source | Journal of Modern African Studies 2020-06 58, 2 |
| Key Words | Egypt ; Neoliberalism ; Arab Uprising ; Accumulation by Dispossession |