Contextualizing the Arab Revolts: The Politics behind Three Decades of Neoliberalism in the Arab World

Abstract

This article argues that attempts to understand the significance and implication of the Arab uprisings must not lose sight of the fact that the current pressures for change are rooted in the fundamental political transformations that took place during the previous three decades. These transformations were intimately related to neoliberal economic reforms. The article examines the impact of neoliberal reforms in two parts. First, it discusses the politics behind three decades of neoliberalism in the region. Second, it elaborates on the urban setting as a locale where we can theorize some of the agency at work in the complex process of neoliberal globalization. As such, we should understand Arab politics–and resistance–as a complexity that goes beyond the mere interaction between ‘the regime’ and ‘the Arab people’ and relate these politics to shifting power balances in contemporary globalization.

Keywords::

• Arab uprisings
• Arab Spring
• globalization
• Egypt
• Marxism
• MENA region
• Morocco
• neoliberalism
• Washington consensus
• World Bank

Notes

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²The Economist (2011) Let the Scent of Jasmine Spread. Available at http://www.economist.com/node/17959600?story_id = 17959600, accessed February 1, 2011.

³ M. Dunne (2011) What Tunisia Proved—and Disproved—about Political Change in the Arab World, Arab Reform Bulletin, January 18. Available at http://carnegieendowment.org/2011/01/19/what-tunisia-proved-and-disproved-about-political-change-in-arab-world/b1wu, accessed January 22, 2011.

⁴ S. Tisdall (2011) The Failure of Governance in the Arab World, The Guardian, January 11. Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/11/tunisia-algeria-riots-failure-arab-governance, accessed February 2, 2011.

⁵ See, for example, G. Duménil & D. Levy (2011) The Crisis of Neoliberalism (Cambridge: Harvard University Press).

⁶ W. Armbrust (2011) A Revolution Against Neoliberalism, Jadaliyya, February 23. Available at http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/717/the-revolution-against-neoliberalism-, accessed February 24, 2011.

⁷ P. Bond (2011) Neoliberal Threats to North Africa, Review of African Political Economy, 38(129), pp. 481–495.

⁸ C. Parker (2006) From Forced Revolution to Failed Transition: The Nightmarish Agency of Revolutionary Neo-Liberalism in Iraq, UNISCI Discussion Papers, 12, pp. 81–101.

⁹ A. Hanieh (2011a) New Texts Out Now: Adam Hanieh, ‘Capitalism and Class in the Gulf Arab States,’ Jadaliyya, September 14. Available at http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/2594/new-texts-out-now_adam-hanieh-capitalism-and-class, accessed October 7, 2011.

¹⁰ See also, for example, A. Alessandrini (2011) Back to Work: OWS and the Arab Spring, Jadaliyya, November 16. Available at http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/3130/back-to-work_ows-and-the-arab-spring, accessed November 18, 2011; and K. Bogaert (2011) Global Dimensions of the Arab Spring and the Potential for Anti-hegemonic Politics, Jadaliyya, December 21. Available at http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/3638/global-dimensions-of-the-arab-spring-and-the-poten, accessed December 21, 2011.

¹¹ M. Valbjørn & A. Bank (2010) Examining the ‘Post’ in Post-democratization: The Future of Middle Eastern Political Rule through Lenses of the Past, Middle East Critique, 19(3), pp. 183–200, p. 195.

¹² F. Cavatorta (2010) The Convergence of Governance: Upgrading Authoritarianism in the Arab World and Downgrading Democracy Elsewhere, Middle East Critique, 19(3), pp. 217–232, p. 227.

¹³ N. Brenner & N. Theodore (2002) Cities and the Geographies of ‘Actually Existing Neoliberalism,’ Antipode, 34(3), pp. 349–379.

¹⁴ M. P. Smith (1998) Looking for the Global Spaces in Local Politics, Political Geography, 17(1), pp. 35–40; and D. Massey (2005) For Space (London: Sage).

¹⁵ D. Harvey (2003) The New Imperialism (New York: Oxford University Press); and D. Harvey (2006) Spaces of Global Capitalism. Towards a Theory of Uneven Geographical Development (London: Verso).

¹⁶ C. Parker (2009) Tunnel-bypasses and Minarets of Capitalism: Amman as a Neoliberal Assemblage, Political Geography, 28(2), pp. 110–120.

¹⁷ M. Levine (2005) Why They Don't Hate Us. Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil (Oxford: Oneworld Publications). For a comprehensive overview of the impact of neoliberal politics in the oil-exporting region, I wish to refer to two excellent and detailed studies: A. Hanieh (2011b) Capitalism and Class in the Gulf Arab States (New York: Palgrave Macmillan); and A. Kanna (2011) Dubai. The City as Corporation (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press).

¹⁸ K. Aggestam et al. (2009) The Arab State and Neo-liberal Globalization, in: L. Guazzone & D. Pioppi (eds) The Arab State and Neo-liberal Globalization. The Restructuring of State Power in the Middle East, pp. 325–350 (Reading: Ithaca Press).

¹⁹ Massey, For Space.

²⁰ For a similar argument on culture and policy, see I. Kapoor (2008) The Postcolonial Politics of Development (London: Routledge), p. 19.

²¹ M. Doornbos (2003) ‘Good Governance:’ The Metamorphosis of a Policy Metaphor, Journal of International Affairs, 57(1), pp. 3–17.

²² World Bank (1997) World Development Report 1997. The State in a Changing World (Washington, DC: World Bank).

²³ Kapoor, postcolonial Politics, p. 30.

²⁴ C. Mouffe (2005) On the Political (New York: Routledge).

²⁵ A. Hanieh (2011c) Egypt's Orderly Transition? International Aid and the Rush to Structural Adjustment, Jadaliyya, May 29. Available at http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/1711/egypts-%E2%80%98orderly-transition%E2%80%99-international-aid-and-, accessed October 7, 2011.

²⁶ On the Deauville summit, see: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/world/20110527-Deauville-G8-Declaration-Arab-Spring-English.pdf, accessed October 13, 2011.

²⁷ Ibid.

²⁸ Ibid.

²⁹ Ibid.

³⁰ Hanieh, Egypt's Orderly Transition?

³¹ Ibid.

³² A. Grimson (2008) The Making of New Urban Borders: Neoliberalism and Protest in Buenos Aires, Antipode, 40(4), pp. 504–512.

³³ H. Radice (2008) The Developmental State under Global Neoliberalism, Third World Quarterly, 29(6), pp. 1153–1174.

³⁴ See BBC article, Q&A: Monti's Technocratic Government for Italy, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15762791, accessed December 20, 2011.

³⁵ Harvey, Spaces of Global Capitalism.

³⁶ Of course, this does not imply that class relations of power replace all other social relations of power.

³⁷ Massey, For Space.

³⁸ According to Doreen Massey, such rigid distinctions do not allow us to imagine other (non-Western) countries and political forces in the world to have their own specific trajectories, their own particular histories, and the potential for their own (different) futures. Within a transitologist's perspective, for example, the research cases are not recognized as coeval others, but rather as cases situated on a logical historical timeline, arguing that those who are ‘behind’ are merely situated at an earlier stage. Allegedly, there is only one possible narrative on political change. The study of these so-called countries that are ‘lagging behind’ comes down to a simple question, as for example the one Lise Storm poses herself in the case of Morocco: ‘Today, fifty years after independence, how far has Morocco come?’ See L. Storm (2007) Democratization in Morocco: The Political Elite and Struggles for Power in the Post-independence State (London: Routledge), p. 163.

³⁹ World Bank (2010) MENA Development Report. Overview. Poor Places, Thriving People. How the Middle East and North Africa Can Rise Above Spatial Disparities (Washington, DC: World Bank), p. 11.

⁴⁰ Ibid.

⁴¹ R. Bush (2004) Poverty and Neo-liberal Bias in the Middle East and North Africa, Development and Change, 35(4), pp. 673–695, p. 675.

⁴² Ibid, p. 674.

⁴³ Ibid, p. 686.

⁴⁴ Massey, For Space, p. 84.

⁴⁵ Harvey, Spaces of Global Capitalism; see also S. Amin (2003) Obsolescent Capitalism (London: Zed Books); Duménil & Levy, Crisis of Neoliberalism; and Hanieh, Capitalism and Class.

⁴⁶ W. Robinson (2004) A Theory of Global Capitalism. Production, Class, and State in a Transnational World (London: John Hopkins University Press).

⁴⁷ Harvey, New Imperialism.

⁴⁸ Amin, Obsolescent Capitalism.

⁴⁹ N. Ayubi (1997) Etatisme versus Privatization: The Changing Economic Role of the State in Nine Arab Countries, in: H. Handoussa (ed.) Economic Transition in the Middle East. Global Challenges and Adjustment Strategies, pp. 125–166 (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press).

⁵⁰ Ibid., p. 129.

⁵¹ J. Waterbury (1985) The Soft State and the Open Door. Egypt's Experience with Economic Liberalization, 1974–1984, Comparative Politics, 18(1), pp. 66–83.

⁵² See also O. Dahi (2011) Understanding the Political Economy of the Arab Revolts, Middle East Report, 259, pp. 2–6.

⁵³ Harvey, Spaces of Global Capitalism.

⁵⁴ Ibid., p. 43.

⁵⁵ R. Bush (2006) When ‘Enough’ is Not Enough: Resistance during Accumulation by Dispossession, in: N. S. Hopkins (ed.) Political and Social Protest in Egypt. Cairo Papers in Social Science, 29, pp. 85–99; and M. Dixon (2011) A Return to the Ancien Régime? Violence, Coercion and Complicity in a Neoliberal Era of Agrarian Restructuring in Egypt. Paper presented at the 12th Mediterranean Research Meeting, Florence, April 6–9.

⁵⁶ Harvey, New Imperialism; and D. Ruccio (2011) Development and Globalization: A Marxian Class Analysis (New York: Routledge).

⁵⁷ M. Catusse (2008) Le temps des entrepreneurs? Politique et transformations du capitalisme au Maroc (Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose).

⁵⁸ Ayubi, Etatisme versus Privatization.

⁵⁹ See, for example, T. Mitchell (1999) No Factories, No Problems: The Logic of Neo-liberalism in Egypt, Review of African Political Economy, 26(82), pp. 455–468; T. Najem (2001) Privatization and the State in Morocco: Nominal Objectives and Problematic Realities, Mediterranean Politics, 6(2), pp. 51–67; Catusse, Le temps des entrepreneurs; N. R. Farah (2009) Egypt's Political Economy. Power Relations in Development (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press); and A. Joya (2011) The Egyptian Revolution: Crisis of Neoliberalism and the Potential for Democratic Politics, Review of African Political Economy, 38(129), pp. 367–386.

⁶⁰ Mitchell, No Factories, p. 461.

⁶¹ Farah, Egypt's Political Economy; and Joya, The Egyptian Revolution. For a specific example, see: K. Bogaert (2012) New State Space Formation in Morocco: The Example of the Bouregreg Valley, Urban Studies, 49(2), pp. 255–270.

⁶² Duménil & Levy, Crisis of Neoliberalism.

⁶³ P. Barthel (2010) Arab Mega-projects: Between the Dubai Effect, Global Crisis, Social Mobilization and a Sustainable Shift, Built Environment, 36(2), pp. 133–145; and Kanna, Dubai.

⁶⁴ Mitchell, No Factories; M. Davis (2006a) Fear and Money in Dubai, New Left Review, 41, pp. 47–68; and Bogaert, New State Space Formation.

⁶⁵ Hanieh, Egypt's Orderly Transition?

⁶⁶ For an excellent account on the case of Egypt, see H. Kandill (2012) Why Did the Egyptian Middle Class March to Tahrir Square?, Mediterranean Politics, 17(2), pp. 197–215.

⁶⁷ Bush, Poverty and Neo-liberal Bias.

⁶⁸ M. Catusse & B. Destremau (2010) L'Etat social à l'épreuve de ses trajectoires au Maghreb, in: M. Catusse, B. Destremau & E. Verdiér (eds) L'état face aux débordements du social au Maghreb. Formation, travail et protection sociale, pp. 15–52 (Paris: Éditions Karthala).

⁶⁹ Levine, Why They Don't Hate Us; R. El-Mahdi (2011) Labour Protests in Egypt: Causes and Meanings, Review of African Political Economy, 38(129), pp. 387–402.

⁷⁰ Ayubi, Etatisme versus Privatization, p. 159.

⁷¹ Ibid.; see also: A. Bayat (2002) Activism and Social Development in the Middle East, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 34(1), pp. 1–28; and Catusse, Le temps des entrepreneurs.

⁷² Dahi, Understanding the Political Economy; and Kandill, Why Did the Egyptian Middle Class March?

⁷³ Bush, Poverty and Neo-liberal Bias.

⁷⁴ Farah, Egypt's Political Economy, p. 44.

⁷⁵ Bush, Poverty and Neo-liberal Bias.

⁷⁶ Harvey, Spaces of Global Capitalism.

⁷⁷ Bayat, Activism and Social Development.

⁷⁸ K. Bogaert & M. Emperador (2011) Imagining the State through Social Protest: State Reformation and the Mobilizations of Unemployed Graduates in Morocco, Mediterranean Politics, 16(2), pp. 241–259.

⁷⁹ El-Mahdi, Labour Protests in Egypt; see also J. Beinin (2012) The Rise of Egypt's Workers, The Carnegie Papers. Available at http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/06/28/rise-of-egypt-s-workers/coh8, accessed September 22, 2012.

⁸⁰ Massey, For Space; see also Smith, Looking for the Global Spaces.

⁸¹ Massey, For Space, p. 101.

⁸² Brenner & Theodore, Cities and the Geographies.

⁸³ See, for example, S. Sassen (2000) The Global City: Strategic Site/New Frontier, American Studies, 41(2/3), pp. 79–95.

⁸⁴ See, for example, Parker, Tunnel-bypasses and Minarets; M. Krijnen & M. Fawaz (2010) Exception as the Rule: High-end Developments in Neoliberal Beirut, Built Environment, 36(2), pp. 245–259; and S. Zemni & K. Bogaert (2011) Urban Renewal and Social Development in Morocco in an Age of Neoliberal Government, Review of African Political Economy, 38(129), pp. 403–417.

⁸⁵ Kanna, Dubai.

⁸⁶ Massey, For Space, p. 85.

⁸⁷ N. Brenner (2004) New State Spaces. Urban Governance and the Rescaling of Statehood (Oxford: Oxford University Press); A. Ong (2006) Neoliberalism as Exception. Mutations in Citizenship and Sovereignty (London: Duke University Press).

⁸⁸ D. Harvey (1989) From Managerialism to Entrepreneurialism: The Transformation in Urban Governance in Late Capitalism, Geografiska Annaler B, 71(1), pp. 3–17; and Brenner, New State Spaces.

⁸⁹ E. Swyngedouw, F. Moulaert & A. Rodriguez (2002) Neoliberal Urbanization in Europe: Large-scale Urban Development Projects and the New Urban Policy, Antipode, 34(3), pp. 542–577.

⁹⁰ H. Lefebvre (1996) The Right to the City, in: E. Kofman & E. Lebas (eds) Writings on Cities, pp. 61–181 (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing), pp. 67 & 167–172.

⁹¹ Zemni & Bogaert, Urban Renewal.

⁹² M. Davis (2006b) Planet of Slums (London: Verso).

⁹³ See, for example, N. Smith (2002) New Globalism, New Urbanism: Gentrification as Global Urban Strategy, Antipode, 34(3), pp. 427–449; S. He & F. Wu (2009) China's Emerging Neoliberal Urbanism: Perspectives from Urban Redevelopment, Antipode, 41(2), pp. 282–304; and M. Nuijten, M. Koster & P. de Vries (2012) Regimes of Spatial Ordering in Brazil: Neoliberalism, Leftist Populism and Modernist Aesthetics in Slum Upgrading in Recife, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 33(2), pp. 157–170.

⁹⁴ Parker, Tunnel-bypasses and Minarets.

⁹⁵ Y. Elshestawy (ed.) (2008) The Evolving Arab City. Tradition, Modernity and Urban Development (London: Routledge).

⁹⁶ Barthel, Arab Mega-projects.

⁹⁷ See, for example, S. Strange (1996) The Retreat of the State: The Diffusion of Power in the World Economy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

⁹⁸ L. Panitch (1998) ‘The State in a Changing World:’ Social-democratizing Global Capitalism?, Monthly Review, 50(5), pp. 11–22; and J. Allen & A. Cochrane (2010) Assemblages of State Power: Topological Shifts in the Organization of Government and Politics, Antipode, 42(5), pp. 1071–1089.

⁹⁹ Allen & Cochrane, Assemblages of State Power, p. 1074.

¹⁰⁰ For more concrete information on the project see http://www.bouregreg.com/tiki-index.php, accessed April 15, 2013.

¹⁰¹ Bogaert, New State Space Formation.

¹⁰² Allen & Cochrane, Assemblages of State Power, p. 1075.

¹⁰³ Ong, Neoliberalism as Exception.

¹⁰⁴ See, for example, J. Sidaway (2007) Spaces of Postdevelopment, Progress in Human Geography, 31(3), pp. 345–361; see also Davis, Fear and Money in Dubai; and Parker, Tunnel-bypasses and Minarets.

¹⁰⁵ Ong, Neoliberalism as Exception, p. 101.

¹⁰⁶ Ibid., p. 76.

¹⁰⁷ J. Ferguson (2005) Seeing Like an Oil Company: Space, Security and Global Capital in Neoliberal Africa, American Anthropologist, 107(3), pp. 377–382, p. 379.

¹⁰⁸ Ibid.

¹⁰⁹ Parker, Tunnel-bypasses and Minarets, p. 115.

¹¹⁰ A. Bayat & K. Biekart (2009) Cities of Extremes, Development and Change, 40(5), pp. 815–825, p. 817.

¹¹¹ Ibid., p. 818.

¹¹² See Bogaert, New State Space Formation, p. 267.

¹¹³ Smith, Looking for the Global Spaces.

¹¹⁴ Aggestam et al., The Arab State.

¹¹⁵ Massey, For Space.