The Politics of Economic Liberalization: Comparing Egypt and Syria

This chapter compares the experiences of two once populist-etatist authoritarian republics which have subsequently taken somewhat different post-populist paths to economic liberalization: Egypt, a pioneer of liberalization and Syria, one of the states most resistant to it. This analysis applies chiefly to such initially authoritarian-populist regimes and will be of lesser relevance to other types of state. Economic liberalization in the Middle East has been governed by the post-populist evolution of the authoritarian-populist regimes which have dominated the region starting in the 1950s. These regimes, launched by military coups led by radical officers, initially aimed to consolidate power against the traditional upper class by co-opting middle and lower strata. The international system shapes the security imperatives to which all policy, including economic policy, is likely to be subordinated, as well as determining the options available to regimes when responding to economic pressures.