Clientelism and Patronage in the Middle East and North Africa: Networks of Dependency

257 Pages·2018·3.587 MB·English

by  Laura Ruiz de Elvira (editor), Christoph H. Schwarz (editor), Irene Weipert-Fenner (editor)

Clientelism and Patronage in the Middle
East and North Africa
Onecommondemandinthe2011uprisingsintheMENAregionwasthecallfor
‘freedom, dignity, and social justice.’ Citizens rallied against corruption and
clientelism, which for many protesterswere deeply linked to political tyranny.
This book takesthe phenomenon of the 2011uprisings asapointof depar-
tureforreassessingclientelism and patronageacrosstheentireMENAregion.
UsingcasestudiescoveringMorocco,Tunisia,Egypt,Jordan,Lebanon,Turkey,
andtheGulfmonarchies,itlooksathowtherelationshipswithinandbetween
clientelist and patronage networks changed before 2011. The book assesses
howthesechangescontributedtothedestabilisationoftheestablishedpolitical
and social order, and how they affected less visible political processes. It then
turns to look at how the political transformations since 2011 have in turn
reconfigured these networks in terms of strategies and dynamics, and con-
comitantly, what implications this has had for the inclusion or exclusion of
new actors. Are specific networks expanding or shrinking in the post-2011
contexts? Do these networks reproduce established forms of patron-client
relations or do they translate into new modes and mechanisms?
As the first book to systematically discuss clientelism, patronage, and cor-
ruption against the background of the 2011 uprisings, it will be a valuable
resource for students and scholars of Middle Eastern Studies. The book also
addresses major debates in comparative politics and political sociology by
offering‘networksofdependency’asaninterdisciplinaryconceptualapproach
that can ‘travel’ across place and time.
Laura Ruiz de Elvira is a permanent researcher at the French Institut de
Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) in the CEPED research unit. Her
research interests focus on civil society, commitment and social movements,
political crisis, and social policies, namely, in Syria and Tunisia.
ChristophH.SchwarzisapostdoctoralresearchfellowattheResearchNetwork
ReconfigurationsattheCenterforNearandMiddleEasternStudies(CNMS)at
Philipps-UniversityMarburg.Hisresearchinterestincludesthemoraleconomy
of political protest, youth, education, gender relations, and migration.
Irene Weipert-Fenner is a senior research fellow at the Peace Research Insti-
tute Frankfurt (PRIF). She has worked on authoritarian regimes, political
transformation, and social movements in Egypt and Tunisia.
Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Democratization and
Government
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ernment in the Middle East. The varied and uneven processes of change,
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18. EU Foreign Policy and Hamas
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20. Kurdistan in Iraq
The Evolution of a Quasi-State
Aram Rafaat
21. Political and Institutional Transition in North Africa
Egypt and Tunisia in Comparative Perspective
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22. Clientelism and Patronage in the Middle East and North Africa
Networks of Dependency
EditedbyLauraRuizdeElvira,ChristophH.SchwarzandIreneWeipert-Fenner
Clientelism and Patronage in the
Middle East and North Africa
Networks of Dependency
Edited by
Laura Ruiz de Elvira,
Christoph H. Schwarz and
Irene Weipert-Fenner
Firstpublished2019
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LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Names:RuizdeElvira,Laura,editor.|Schwarz,ChristophH.,editor.|
Weipert-Fenner,Irene,editor.
Title:ClientelismandpatronageintheMiddleEastandNorthAfrica:
networksofdependency/editedbyLauraRuizdeElvira,ChristophH.
SchwarzandIreneWeipert-Fenner.
Othertitles:RoutledgestudiesinMiddleEasterndemocratizationand
government;22.
Description:MiltonPark,Abingdon,Oxon;NewYork,NY:
Routledge,2018.
Series:RoutledgestudiesinMiddleEasterndemocratizationand
government;22|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2018008066|ISBN9780815347378(hbk)|ISBN
9781351169240(ebk)
Subjects:LCSH:Patronage,Political–MiddleEast–History–21stcentury.|
Patronage,Political–Africa,North–History–21stcentury.|Patronand
client–MiddleEast–History–21stcentury.|Patronandclient–Africa,
North–History–21stcentury.|Politicalcorruption–MiddleEast–History–
21stcentury.|Politicalcorruption–Africa,North–History–21stcentury.|
MiddleEast–Politicsandgovernment–21stcentury.|Africa,North–
Politicsandgovernment–21stcentury.
Classification:LCCJQ1758.A91C582018|DDC306.20956–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2018008066
ISBN:9780815347378(hbk)
ISBN:9781351169240(ebk)
TypesetinTimesNewRoman
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
Contents
List of illustrations vii
Acknowledgements viii
List of contributors x
Introduction: Networks of dependency, a research perspective 1
LAURARUIZDEELVIRA,CHRISTOPHH.SCHWARZAND
IRENEWEIPERT-FENNER
PARTI
Conceptualising privilege and dependency in the MENA region 17
1 Multi-layered dependency: Understanding the transnational
dimension of favouritism in the Middle East 19
SINABIRKHOLZ
2 Theorising politics, patronage, and corruption in the Arab
monarchies of the Gulf 47
MATTHEWGRAY
PARTII
Patron–client relations in the Neoliberal Era 69
3 Redistributive politics, clientelism, and political patronage under
the AKP 71
ESRAÇEVIKERGÜRAKARANDTUBABIRCAN
4 Cairo’s newold faces: Redrawing the map of patron–client
networks against the background of the January 25 revolution
and the 2015 elections 98
MOHAMEDFAHMYMENZA
vi Contents
5 Neoliberal reforms, protests, and enforced patron–client relations
in Tunisia and Egypt 118
MOHAMMADYAGHI
6 The reconfiguration of clientelism and the failure of vote buying
in Lebanon 143
TINEGADE
PARTIII
The role of brokers for networks of dependency 167
7 Centre–periphery relations and the reconfiguration of the state’s
patronage networks in the Rif 169
ÁNGELASUÁREZ-COLLADO
8 Networks of dependency and governmentality in Southern
Lebanon: Development and reconstruction as tools for
Hezbollah’s clientelist strategies 192
DIANAZEIDAN
9 PatronageandclientelisminJordan:Themonarchyandthetribes
in the wake of the ‘Arab Spring’ 211
LUISMELIÁNRODRÍGUEZ
Index 231
Illustrations
Figures
0.1 Networks of dependency 11
.
3.1 TOKI projects under and exempted from the PPL 79
3.2 AKP’s performance in local elections and the politically
.
connected vs. non-connected firms’shares in TOKI procurements 89
3.3 AKP’s performance in local elections and the politically
connected firms’shares in municipal procurements 90
Tables
2.1 Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceptions Index
2014: Results for Middle Eastern states 49
2.2 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, 2010–2014
(US$ current) 51
3.1 Determinants of the AKP’s electoral success 84
3.2 Islamic religiosity in AKP governed cities 86
3.3 Municipal procurements and AKP’s performance in
local elections 87
.
3.4 TOKI investments and the AKP’s performance in local elections 88
. . .
3.5 TOKI investments in Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir 89
5.1 Sample of slogans that demand social, civil, and political rights,
and condemn corruption 129
5.2 Slogans that demand social and political rights
and accountability 136
Acknowledgements
This book is a result of a long debate that started in the spring of 2014 at
Marburg University’s Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, where the
editors of this volume met. Working together in the research network ‘Re-
configurations.History,RemembranceandTransformationsintheMiddleEast
and North Africa’, generously funded by the German Ministry of Education
and Research, we had two general aims: Firstly, we wanted to explore what
kind of developments had – eventually – led to the mass uprisings und trig-
gered the processes of political transformation in the region, but also fuelled
the smaller waves of protests and precipitated the incremental steps of poli-
tical reform; our second aim was to investigate how far reaching these chan-
ges had actually been. Together with the speaker of the network, Rachid
Ouaissa, and the coordinator, Achim Rohde, as well as with our great team
members (Anne-Linda Amira Augustin, Jamal Bahmad, Andrea Fischer-
Tahir, Igor Johannsen, Mariam Salehi, Alena Strohmaier, Dimitris Soudias),
we had lively debates on these topics. Was it that just certain elements had
changed their position in the overall system, or was it about deeper transfor-
mations that had changed the order as awhole? What role did the agency of
the subaltern, but also of elites, play in these developments?
Onequestionthathadbeenattheforefrontofthe2011outbreakofpopular
discontent,andyetoftenignoredinthepost-uprisingacademicliterature,was
that of clientelism, patronage, and corruption. Together with Mohammad
RezaFarzanegan,ProfessorofEconomicsoftheMiddleEast,weorganiseda
workshop that gathered more than 20 international scholars in Marburg in
July 2015. The ideawas to bring together country-specific experts who could
provide in-depth analysis on clientelist networks and dynamics across the
region.Intheseincrediblyinspiringdaysweinvestigatedandcriticallydiscussed
to what extent the studied national trajectories could be grasped by our con-
ceptualapproachofnetworksofdependency.Aswellasthecontributorstothe
present volume, Nadine Abdalla, Thomas Demmelhuber, Nadine Kreitmeyr,
and Hamza Meddeb contributed enormously to the undertaking with the
presentation of their papers; all the presentations were thoroughly discussed
by Ali Fakih, Andrea Fischer-Tahir, Svenja Gertheiss, Stéphane Valter, and
Luciano Zaccara, who we would like to thank here for their significant input
Acknowledgements ix
to the overall debate. We are also indebted to Zuher Jazmati, Anja Schmidt,
SuhaylaAwad,HannaAlTaher,ElMustaphaMoujib,andJanGundersenfor
the wonderful assistance in organising the event aswell as contributing to the
follow-up research and formatting.
After the workshop, it took another two years until the manuscript was
ready. We owe a lot to our authors. Not only were they willing to take on the
challenge of reworking their papers in the light of the discussions and recent
political developments in the region, they, most importantly, remained
enthusiastic for the project throughout the several rounds of revision that this
complex thematic demanded. We might have been almost zealously attentive
to minute details at times – but we hope they all agree that it was worth the
effort.
Throughout we have also profited greatly from the cooperation with the
Center for Conflict Studies at Marburg University, in particular with Susanne
Buckley-Zistel,ThorstenBonacker,andtheirgreatteams.InFrance,theERC
project ‘WAFAW’ (When Authoritarianism Fails in the Arab World) and its
members – namely, François Burgat, Laurent Bonnefoy, Vincent Geisser,
Myriam Catusse, Amin Allal, and Marie Vannetzel – were equally inspiring
and supportive.
This book was also enriched by the exchange with the research project
‘Socioeconomic Protests and Political Transformation: Dynamics of Con-
tentious Politics in Egypt and Tunisia against the background of South
American Experiences’, directed at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt
(PRIF), carried out in cooperation with the Arab Forum for Alternatives
(Egypt) and the University of Sfax (Tunisia), and generously funded by the
Volkswagen Foundation. We would particularly like to thank Jonas Wolff for
his excellent comments on the overall concept.
Last but not least,wewould like thank PaulBowman, our language editor,
for his excellent work, patience, and flexibility. The proof reading, language
editing,andindexingwasfinanciallysupportedbytheBMBF,theVolkswagen
Foundation, and the CEPED (IRD).