My research project is on the political contestations over the making of Egyptian public spaces. It aims at understanding the process through which political actors define and re-define public spaces, particularly in contentious moments, and how public spaces constitute political identities and influence their political choices. Through making use of the Egyptian case study, I identified three different patterns of constituting public spaces: monopolisation, marketisation and securitisation. In my research, I will illustrate these three patterns while highlighting their spatial manifestations in particular episodes of contention. I will investigate the process through which the Egyptian ruling regime and other oppositional groups constitute, contest, define and re-define public spaces during episodes of contention in order to legitimise their political claims. The research answers the questions: How are public spaces constituted, defined and re-defined in contentious events? How and when do they become contested sites between the ruling regime (al nizarri) and various opposition groups? How could these different opposition groups manage to mobilise public spaces, altering them from spaces of everyday life, into sites of political activism? How are public spaces implicated in constituting political subjectivities? How do discourses in the public sphere impact on the constitution of public spaces as contested locations? In my thesis, I aim at developing a new approach to understand the notion of the public space. Instead of searching for a new overarching definition of the public space, I stress that it is more important to investigate the process through which public spaces are constituted, negotiated and contested. In doing so, my research challenges dominant definitions that take the notion of the public space for granted and defines it as the space that is open and accessible to everyone. I argue that political actors engage in a process of defining.

This thesis examines state-society relations in Egypt, and the logic of durable authoritarianism since 1952. It does so through an examination of the Egyptian state’s neglectful rule, from the 1970s through the 1990s, of its capital Cairo. In particular, the thesis focuses on state inaction vis-à-vis Cairo’s informal housing sector: those neighbourhoods established on land not officially sanctioned for urbanization. The central research question of the thesis is to explain why the Egyptian state has been unable to intervene effectively in these informal neighbourhoods—despite their stigmatization in Egyptian public discourse as threats to the nation’s social, moral and political health; the authoritarian state’s considerable unilateral power; and the availability of western assistance for development interventions. The short answer to the question, is that the very factors which sustain the authoritarian political order constrain the Egyptian state’s ability to intervene in its capital. Neglectful rule is a consequence of the autocratic post-1952 dispensation of power. That this neglect is not simply the result of structural resource constraints, is demonstrated through the examination of donor-funded urban-development projects—aimed at fostering an administratively competent Egyptian state able to intervene in its capital—none of which were successful or sustainable. The failure of these reform initiatives, which could have allowed Egyptian state agencies to upgrade informal Cairo and re-orient its growth, can be plausibly explained in terms of the challenges they posed to the logic of autocratic rule. Thus the reproduction of the informal city is, in part, a consequence of the post-1952 dispensation.

This thesis explores the process of economic and political reform in Egypt, by taking into consideration the role of the Muslim Brotherhood and the politics of succession in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood is arguably the most important political actor in Egypt, and by looking at how the Muslim Brotherhood developed strength over the decades through a process of change in its shape and character, it will allow an understanding of how it was able to pose a challenge to the Egyptian government at a time of economic reform in 1991 and the consequences, which followed for the process of political change in Egypt. Also, a look at the process of political succession in Egypt, which has risen to the surface over the last 6 years, will allow an understanding into the actors and forces involved in the politics of succession and the consequences, which emerge for the future process of reform, in particular political reform in Egypt.

Most existing interpretations of the thought of Antonio Gramsci in International Relations and International Political Economy are strongly influenced by the seminal account provided by Cox in the early 1980s. Recovering the hitherto neglected concept of philosophy of praxis, this thesis departs from the 'Coxian orthodoxy' and develops an alternative understanding of Gramsci that sees hegemony as a combination of coercion and consent emerging from the articulation on three overlapping dimensions, respectively involving the interaction of the economic and the political, the international and the national, the material and the ideational. The potential of this approach is illustrated by examining the unfolding of neoliberal economic reforms in Egypt in the past two decades. It is argued that, firstly, the interaction of economic and political factors produced the emergence of a neoliberal authoritarian regime with a predatory capitalist oligarchy playing an ever greater role. Secondly, articulation across different spatial scales brought about a passive revolution managed by the state with the aim of adapting to the globalising imperatives of capital accumulation without broadening political participation. Lastly, the performative power of neoliberalism as an ideology fundamentally reshaped economic policymaking in favour of the rising capitalist elite. This focus on the shift in class relations produced by – and itself reinforcing – neoliberal reforms allows us to understand how the already waning hegemony of the Egyptian regime under Mubarak gradually unravelled. The rise of the capitalist oligarchy upset relations of force both within the ruling bloc and in society at large, effectively breaking the post- Nasserite social pact. Passive revolution witnessed the abdication to the pursuit of hegemony on the national scale, with the attempt of replacing it with reliance on the neoliberal hegemony prevalent on the international scale. The success of neoliberalism as an ideology did not obscure the increasingly inability of the regime to provide material benefits, however marginal, to subaltern classes. Thus, the affirmation of neoliberalism in Egypt corresponded to the failure of hegemony on the national scale.

No description available.

L’évolution du secteur des médias en Égypte depuis les années 2000 a eu une influence déterminante sur le cap politique que prend le pays au lendemain du soulèvement populaire de 2011. Ce travail cherche à démontrer qu’en Égypte, l’intrication complexe d’intérêts entre les médias, le milieu des affaires et l’armée, a été un élément central au renouvellement des stratégies du régime militaire pour assurer sa propre survie, et que cette connivence a joué un rôle capital dans le succès de la mutation néoautoritaire du système politique égyptien. La collusion entre l’armée et le secteur privé de l’audiovisuel qui se développe au cours des années 2000, permet au régime d’encadrer le passage de l’Égypte à l’ère satellitaire, de superviser la relative libéralisation de la sphère publique qui en découle, et de coopter les discours dissidents modérés en leur offrant un accès nouveau aux médias de masse. L’arrivée d’internet en Égypte au cours de cette même période, favorise le développement d’une sphère publique parallèle qui se politise rapidement et engendre la constitution d’une opposition bien plus radicale que celle qui s’exprime à la télévision, et qui cherche à exploiter le potentiel mobilisateur des nouvelles technologies dans l’espoir de déclencher le changement politique. Mais malgré les bouleversements engendrés par la révolution dans le domaine de l’expression publique, l’industrie des médias ne parvient pas à s’émanciper des dynamiques autoritaires qui la structurent depuis des décennies, et tandis qu’ils semblaient porteurs de promesses démocratiques, les médias égyptiens sont rapidement relégués à leur fonction originelle de cerbères du régime. / The evolution of the media industry in Egypt since the early 2000s has had a critical impact on the political path taken by the country in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising. This research aims at demonstrating that in Egypt, the complex overlapping of political and economic interests between the media, the business elites and the army has been key to the regime’s ability to survive the revolution, and that such intricacy has played a crucial role in the successful mutation of the Egyptian political system towards neo-authoritarianism. The collusion between the army and the private broadcast sector that emerged in the early 2000s, has allowed the regime to regulate the country’s transition to satellite technologies, to control the liberalization of this new public sphere, and to tame the messages of moderate dissidents by giving them access to mass media. The arrival of internet in Egypt during that same decade has helped the rise of a parallel public sphere and its fast politicization, which led to the development of a more radical opposition eager to use new technologies as mobilization tools to trigger a regime change. Despite the undeniable impact of the 2011 revolution on freedom of expression in Egypt, the country’s media industry has appeared unable to emancipate itself from the authoritarian dynamics it has been submitted to for decades. And even though media seemed to be advocating for more democracy in the aftermath of the uprising, they quickly slipped back into their initial role of custodians of the regime’s survival.

Les programmes de construction de l'Etat soutenus par la communauté internationale depuis la fin des années 1990 dans des contextes d'après-guerre sont souvent considéré ineffectifs. En analysant l'entreprise de state-building au Sud Soudan dans une perspective historique, cette thèse montre comment ces programmes, supposés apolitiques et techniques, s'entrelacent avec le processus de plus longue durée de formation de l'État, avec son caractère cumulatif et négocié. Cette négociation a lieu dans une arène crée par les programmes internationaux dans leurs rencontres avec les acteurs locaux. On se concentre sur trois secteurs d'interventions qui donnent aux 'communautés locales' un rôle très important en tant que sujets avec des droits collectif: la création d'un système de gouvernement décentralisé, la livraison de services publics et la réforme du système foncier. L'administration des droits collectifs à la terre, aux services et à l 'autogouvernement par les autorités traditionnelles comporte un chevauchement entre la sphère coutumière et celle bureaucratique de l'État, ce qui encourage l'ethnicization de la politique Sud Soudanaise. Le développement de politiques et de cadres légaux de ces trois secteurs établit des 'règles du jeu' qui les acteurs aperçoivent devoir respecter dans leurs interactions quotidiennes avec l'État pour accéder à ses ressources. Deux dynamiques émergent par ces interactions : une fragmentation ethnique horizontale, et des liens verticaux de patronage. Les discours sur l'efficience et l'efficace de l'administration définissent donc un sujet communautaire qui produit une repolitisation ethnique du processus de state-building à travers l'appropriation de ces discours pour la part de la population locale des autorités traditionnelles. / State-building programs supported by the international donor community since the end of the 1990s in post-conflict contexts have often been considered ineffective. Analyzing the state-building enterprise in South Sudan in a historical perspective, this thesis shows how these programs, portrayed as technical and apolitical, intertwine with the longer term process of state formation with its cumulative and negotiated character. This negotiation occurs in an arena created by the encounter between international programs and local actors. The thesis will focus on three sectors in which the “local communities” have been given an important role as right­bearing subjects: the local government reform, the delivery of basic services and the land reform. As collective rights to land, services and self-rule are managed by traditional authorities, the customary sphere overlaps with the bureaucratic sphere of the modern state, encouraging the ethnicization of South Sudanese politics. The formulation of laws and policies in these three sectors provides the “rules of the games” influencing local actors' interaction with the state, as they understand them to be necessary to gain access to state resources. Two kinds of dynamics emerge from these interactions: horizontal ethnic fragmentation and vertical patronage relationships. Discourses on administrative effectiveness and efficiency create a communal subject which contributes to re-politicize (and ethnicize) the state­building process through the appropriation of these discourses by local population and their traditional authorities.

Cette thèse contribue à la littérature sur les manifestations, la participation des femmes au marché du travail et la migration de retour. Le premier chapitre examine l’impact des manifestations égyptiennes de 2011 sur les conditions du marché du travail des femmes en utilisant des données en panel d’avant et d’après la révolution. En utilisant la méthode des doubles différences ainsi que des données sur les «martyrs» de la révolution égyptienne, les résultats suggèrent que les manifestations de 2011 ont réduit les écarts homme-femme en termes de participation au marché du travail au sein du ménage, à travers l’effet du travailleur additionnel. Le deuxième chapitre examine l’impact de la migration temporaire sur la mobilité professionnelle des migrants de retour vis-à-vis des non-migrants. En employant l’approche de variable instrumentale, des doubles différences et des doubles différences combinées avec la méthode d’appariement, les résultats mettent en avant un effet positif de la migration de retour sur la mobilité professionnelle et surtout, pour les migrants de retour les plus éduqués. Le troisième chapitre examine l’impact des première et deuxième vagues de manifestations égyptiennes sur les résultats électoraux durant les premières élections libres et compétitives égyptiennes. Le résultat principal est qu’une exposition élevée aux manifestations mène à un pourcentage de votes plus élevé pour les candidats de l’ancien régime durant les deux tours de scrutin. Les résultats mettent aussi en lumière que les manifestions ont eu des répercussions conservatrices, aux côtés de prévisions économiques négatives, de l’insatisfaction générale à l’égard de la performance du gouvernement, de la réduction des niveaux de confiance envers les institutions publiques et de la reconnaissance croissante des limitations aux libertés civiles et politiques. / This thesis contributes to the literature on protests, women’s labor force participation and return migration. The first chapter examines the effects of the 2011 Egyptian protests on the relative labor market conditions of women using panel data from before and after the protests. Using Difference-in-Differences approach and a unique dataset on the Egyptian “martyrs", the results suggest that the 2011 protests have reduced intra-household differences in labor force participation between husband and wife, through an added-worker effect. The second chapter examines whether temporary international migration enables returnees to climb the occupational ladder compared to non-migrants. Using an instrumental variable approach, Difference-in-Differences and Difference-in-Differences matching techniques, the results suggest that return migration increases the probability of upward occupational mobility, in particular for returnees who belong to the upper end of the educational distribution. The third chapter examines the effects of the first and second waves of Egyptian protests, on voting outcomes during Egypt’s first free presidential elections. The main finding of this chapter is that higher exposure to protests’ intensity leads to a higher share of votes for former regime candidates, both during the first and second rounds of Egypt’s first presidential elections after the uprisings. Results also suggest that the protests led to a conservative backlash, alongside negative economic expectations, general dissatisfaction with government performance, decreasing levels of trust towards public institutions, and increasing recognition of limitations on civil and political liberties.