A political economy of Egyptian foreign policy: State, ideology, and modernisation since 1970.

Mahmoud, Yasser Mohamed Elwy Mohamed (2009) A political economy of Egyptian foreign policy: State, ideology, and modernisation since 1970. PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Abstract

This study aims at exploring the relation between economic liberalisation and Egyptian foreign policy orientation. It argues that the roots of the restructuring of Egyptian foreign policy since 1970 could be traced in the process of transforming the populist statist model of managing the Egyptian political economy. The study of Egyptian foreign policy has been hitherto dominated by the psychological- perceptual analysis of the Egyptian presidents' belief systems. Implicit in such analyses is the assumption of a docile socio-economic set up and an omnipotent leader capable of making abrupt changes in the basic thrust and orientation of Egyptian foreign policy according to his preferences and perceptions. This study seeks to challenge this assumption. As opposed to the asocial conception of a transcendent leader deciding freely on foreign policy matters, major shifts in Egyptian attitudes and behaviour towards its regional and international environments, it will be argued, were deeply linked to, and largely dependent on, the transformation of the Egyptian political economy, as well as its pace. To this end, the thesis is divided into four chapters apart from the introduction and the conclusion. The first examines the foreign policy implications of the populist statist model that prevailed during the 1950s and 1960s as well as the origins of the restructuring process. The second, third and fourth discuss the first wave of restructuring during the 1970s, the hesitant decade of slow transformation (the 1980s), and the second wave of restructuring in the aftermath of the Gulf war respectively. The focus of analysis will remain throughout the study on the exploring patterns of interaction between transforming the political economy and reorienting foreign policy.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Political Science, International Relations, Economics, General, Middle Eastern Studies
Sets:	Collections > ProQuest Etheses Departments > International Relations
URI:	http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/2753

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