For a number of years, western states and international institutions provided financial assistance to the developing countries and promoted solutions to political inequality based on two main principles. The first was related to the notion of economic liberalization, which would unfold the potentials of the market and minimize the role of the state in the economic sphere. The second was that western support to the embryonic civil societies of the developing world would give voice to the populations of these countries and would change the nature of authoritative political regimes. These ideas continue to inform the debate about the development of north African countries. This paper presents and analyzes two nations in north Africa, Egypt and Morocco, in terms of how they exploited the global economic situation and whether they benefited from the openness of the markets. Reference is made to the fact that some political freedoms were initiated in those countries, but they were not democratized. Therefore, the paper critically examines and distinguishes the notion of economic liberalization from the idea of democratization by exploring the ways regimes handled fundamental notions of political equality.
Afouxenidis, A. (2012). The Role of Civil Society Organizations and of Informal Networks in Combating Discrimination. In D. Balourdos, & A. Mouriki, (Eds.), Combating Discrimination in Greece (pp. 169-180). Athens: National Centre for Social Research.
Achy, L., & Sekkat, K. (2010). Industrial Dynamics and Productivity in Morocco: A Quantitative Assessment. In K. Sekkat (Ed.), Market Dynamics and Productivity in Developing Countries (pp. 45-72). New York, NY: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1037-0_3
Anonymous (2011). A Tricky Transition. Financial Times.
Beblawi, H. (1990). The Rentier State in the Arab World. In H. Beblawi, & G. Luciani (Eds.), The Rentier State. New York, NY: University of California Press.
Bellin, E. R. (2002). Stalled Democracy: Capital, Labor and the Paradox of State-Spon- sored Development. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Benhaddou, A. (1997). Maroc, les élites du royaume: Essai sur l’organisation du pouvoir au Maroc. L’Harmattan.
Bensaad, A. (2007). The Mediterranean Divide and Its Echo in the Sahara: New Migratory Routes and New Barriers on the Path to the Mediterranean. In T. Fabre, & P. Sant Casia (Eds.), Between Europe and the Mediterranean: The Challenge and the Fears (pp. 51-69). Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230287334_5
Bianchi, R. (1989). Unruly Corporatism: Associational Life in Twentieth-Century Egypt. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bilgin, P. (2009). EU Security Policies towards the Mediterranean: The Ethical Dimension—What Do We Know and What Else Should We Know? INEX Policy Brief No. 2, December 2009 (Working Paper 6). Oslo: International Peace Research Institute. http://aei.pitt.edu/14991/
Bodenstein, T., & Furness, M. (2009). Separating the Willing from the Able: Is the European Union’s Mediterranean Policy Incentive Compatible? European Union Politics, 10, 381-401. https://doi.org/10.1177/1465116509337832
Comelli, M., & Paciello, M.-C. (2007). A Cost/Benefit Analysis of the ENP for the EU’s Southern Partners (Briefing Paper). European Parliament.
Dawson, C. (2009). EU Integration with North Africa: Trade Negotiations and Democracy Deficits in Morocco. London: Tauris Academic Studies.
Dillman, B. (2002). International Markets and Partial Economic Reforms in North Africa: What Impact on Democratization? Democratization, 9, 63-86. https://doi.org/10.1080/714000243
Emerson, M., Noutcheva, G., & Popescu, N. (2007). European Neighbourhood Policy Two Years on: Time indeed for an “ENP plus” (Policy Brief No. 126). CEPS Policy Briefs. Brussels: Center for European Policy Studies.
European Commission (2006). Euro-Med Association Agreements: Agricultural Trade-Regional Impacts in the EU (Proceedings of the Workshop). Brussels: European Commission. http://ftp.jrc.es/pub/EURdoc/PB2006IPTS3548.pdf
European Commission (2010). Evaluation of European Commission’s Support with Egypt-Country Level Evaluation. Brussels: European Commission. http://www.oecd.org/derec/ec/47240585.pdf
FAO (2008). Food and Agricultural Commodities Production. Rome: FAO. http://faostat.fao.org/site/339/default.aspx
Fontagné, L., & Péridy, N. (1997). The EU and the Maghreb. Paris: OECD Publishing.
Fukuyama, F. (1992). The End of History and the Last Man. New York, NY: The Free Press.
Grabbe, H. (2003). Europeanization Goes East: Power and Uncertainty in the EU Accession Process. In K. Featherstone, & C. Radaelli (Eds.), The Politics of Europeanization (pp. 309-310). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/0199252092.003.0013
Grimson, A., & Kessler, G. (2005). On Argentina and the Southern Cone: Neoliberalism and National Imaginations. London: Routledge.
Holm, U. (2008). North Africa: A Security Problem for Themselves, for the EU and for the US (DIIS Report No. 2). Copenhagen: Danish Institute for International Studies.
IBRD/WB (2010). Doing Business 2011: MENA Making a Difference for Entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa. Washington DC: IBRD/World Bank.
IBRD/WB (2012). World Development Indicators 2012. Washington DC: IBRD/ World Bank.
Jaidi, L. (1994). La creation d’une zone de libre-echange entre l’Union europeenne et le Maroc: Motivations, attentes et constraints. Paris: CERCA.
Jelili, R., & Goaied, M. (2010). Entry, Exit, and Productivity in Tunisian Manufacturing Industries. In K. Sekkat (Ed.), Market Dynamics and Productivity in Developing Countries (pp. 73-108). New York, NY: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1037-0_4
Mamdani, M. (2001). Beyond Settler and Native as Political Identities: Overcoming the Political Legacy of Colonialism. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 43, 651-664.
Paczynska, A. (2009). State, Labor, and the Transition to a Market Economy: Egypt, Poland, Mexico, and the Czech Republic. State College, PA: Pennsylvania State University.
Prebisch, R. (1950). The Economic Development of Latin America and Its Principal Problems. Lake Success, NY: United Nations Department of Economic Affairs.
Rapley, J. (2004). Globalization and Inequlaity: Neoliberalism’s Downward Spiral. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
Ross, M. L. (2001). Does Oil Hinder Democracy? World Politics, 53, 325-361. https://doi.org/10.1353/wp.2001.0011
Sorman, G. (2005). Les Enfants de Rifaa: Musulmans et modernes. Paris: Le Livre de Poche.
Talani, L. S. (2009). From Egypt to Europe: Globalisation and Migration across the Mediterranean. London: Tauris Academic Studies.
Tangeaoui, S. (1993). Les entrepreneurs marocains: Pouvoir, société et modernité. Paris: KARTHALA Editions.
UNCTAD (2010). Handbook of Statistics 2010. New York, NY: United Nations.
Van Niekerk, S. (2010). Desertec: What Are the Implications for Africa? London: Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU).
White, G. (2001). A Comparative Political Economy of Tunisia and Morocco: On the Outside of Europe Looking in. New York, NY: State University of New York Press.
Wright, E. O. (2010). Envisioning Real Utopias. London: Verso.
Zaiotti, R. (2007). Of Friends and Fences: Europe’s Neighbourhood Policy and the “Gated Community Syndrome.” Journal of European Integration, 29, 143-162. https://doi.org/10.1080/07036330701252581