Making Democracy Safe for Busines : Corporate Politics During the Arab Uprisings

This book examines the influence of business groups following democratic transitions in Egypt and Tunisia. Employing interviews and quantitative surveys, the book helps the reader understand why crony capitalism endured even democratic uprisings and how businesses became a prop to authoritarian leaders bent on undermining democracy.

Businesses in the Middle East and North Africa have failed to bring sustainable development despite decades of investment from the private and public sectors. Yet we still know little about why the Arab Uprisings failed to usher in more transparent government that could break this enduring cycle of corruption and mismanagement. Examining posttransition politics in Egypt and Tunisia, Kubinec employs interviews and quantitative surveys to map out the corrupting influence of businesses on politics. He argues that businesses must respond to changes in how perks and privileges are distributed after political transitions, either by forming political coalitions or creating new informal connections to emerging politicians. Employing detailed case studies and original experiments, Making Democracy Safe for Business advances our empirical understanding of the study of the durability of corruption in general and the dismal results of the Arab Uprisings in particular.