Free Trade and Democratization: The Ominous Link in the Case of Egypt
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Date
2019-12-06
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Ankara Üniversitesi
Abstract
This article shall examine the frequently studied relationship between free trade and democratization
by taking Egypt as the case study. Egypt has gradually removed barriers against free trade over the years but
unlike the claims of some studies in the literature, economic development stemming from free trade policies
did not transform Egypt into a country with a more pluralist political system. The reason that trade liberalization
has not been instrumental in Egypt’s democratization is related with the fact that Egypt’s trade liberalization
policies were designed, negotiated and implemented by a small group of politicians who happened to have close
ties with the business world and in some cases, they directly hailed from the business world. Naturally, these
policies merely reflect narrow crony capitalist interests, at the expense of other social classes, particularly the
middle class. Thus, as far as the Egyptian example is concerned, the relationship between free trade and
democratization could be labelled as ominous since middle classes are generally regarded as instrumental in
the formation a democratic system and trade liberalization or neoliberal economic policies in general have been
pursued to the detriment of middle class Egyptians.
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Free trade, Democratization, Egypt