Economic Crisis And The Politics Of Reform In Egypt [Hardcover]

Ray Bush (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813336767 | ISBN-13: 978-0813336763 | Publication Date: December 9, 1999

This book examines the character of Egypt’s economic crisis and the reforms promoted to ameliorate it since the mid-1980s focusing in particular on the period since 1991. Bush attacks the standard view of the causes of the country’s economic problems. He argues that it is based on a misunderstanding of the social organization and economic dynamics of rural Egypt and on a crude conception of the market as an instrument of economic progress. Bush draws on original research material based on interviews with international agency staff and surveys undertaken in four Egyptian villages to support his alternative perspective. This alternative stresses the importance of the household, rather than the farm, as the unit of social and economic organization, the different and varied strategies that households pursue, the central role of women, local responses to environmental problems and the significance of class and gender inequality in the countryside. These are all areas the international agencies and the Government of Egypt have ignored in their push for economic reform.This is an original contribution to work on Egypt’s politics and society with significant lessons to be learnt elsewhere in the developing world. The book importantly draws together strategies for economic liberalization with the relationship between Egypt’s state, society and agriculture. Bush concludes that the economic reform program is unlikely to sustain higher levels of agricultural output and economic growth and that it also fails to address environmental issues. The likely outcome of reforms will be greater inequality and social unrest.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ray Bush is in the Institute for Politics and International Studies, at the University of Leeds where he is also the Director of the Leeds University Center for African Studies. He has conducted research and written on many countries in Africa and the Middle East focusing on the political economy of food security, resources and environmental transformation, political and economic liberalization. He is the joint reviews editor of The Review of African Political Economy.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press (December 9, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813336767
• ISBN-13: 978-0813336763
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,675,616 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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