Outsourcing Authoritarianism : Private Security Actors in the Shadow of the Arab Uprisings

Reveals how the growing private security industry in the Arab region underpins authoritarian adaptation and failed democratization. Drawing on Middle East politics, security studies, and political economy, this book will interest academics, practitioners in the security market, and followers of current affairs and foreign policy in the Middle East.

The 2010–2011 Arab uprisings constituted a wake-up call to authoritarian regimes. In this book, Engy Moussa demonstrates how the multifaceted changes affecting the market for security, particularly the booming privatization of security, were central to authoritarian survival across the region. By investigating the privatization of security since 2011, Moussa argues that this phenomenon is deeply influenced by regime security and interests, with serious political ramifications. At times, it fails to support democratization efforts. In other cases, it endorses authoritarian consolidation through advanced co-optation and repression, and expansive patrimonial networks. Recognizing the global growth of private security, this innovative work pushes beyond the Arab region and generates an analytical framework to study the manifestations and impact of security market reconfigurations across cases. By comparing Tunisia and Egypt, Moussa shows how post-uprisings outcomes depend on key generalized factors interacting with unique local dynamics amidst an evolving, unpredictable and hardly controlled process.