Elections and Distributive Politics in Mubarak's Egypt

by Blaydes, Lisa

• ISBN13: 9781107000551
• ISBN10: 1107000556
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-11-22
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

Despite its authoritarian political structure, Egypt's government has held competitive, multi-party parliamentary elections for more than 30 years. This book argues that, rather than undermining the durability of the Mubarak regime, competitive parliamentary elections ease important forms of distributional conflict, particularly conflict over access to spoils. In a comprehensive examination of the distributive consequences of authoritarian elections in Egypt, Lisa Blaydes examines the triadic relationship between Egypt's ruling regime, the rent-seeking elite that supports the regime, and the ordinary citizens who participate in these elections. She describes why parliamentary candidates finance campaigns to win seats in a legislature that lacks policymaking power, as well as why citizens engage in the costly act of voting in such a context.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. vi
List of Tables	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Political and Economic Change since 1952	p. 26
Elections and Elite Management	p. 48
The Politics of Infrastructure Provision	p. 64
Electoral Budget Cycles and Economic Opportunism	p. 77
Vote Buying, Turnout, and Spoiled Ballots	p. 100
Elections and Elite Corruption	p. 125
Elections and the Muslim Brotherhood	p. 148
Liberal Intellectuals and the Demand for Democratic Change	p. 171
Foreign Pressure and Institutional Change	p. 192
Egypt in Comparative Perspective	p. 210
Conclusion	p. 237
Bibliography	p. 245
Index	p. 275
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