Shimaa El Sharkawy ,Shimaa ElSharkawy
Egypt
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Abstract:
Decentralization has been in the limelight of scholarly debate both for OECD countries and for other world regions, such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for the last decades. When mass protests in the periphery in 2011 spilled over to urban spaces across the region, several MENA regimes responded to the increasing uncontrollability of political dynamics by broadening their discourse on decentralization and local governance reforms.
Even the formerly heavily centralized regimes of Tunisia and Egypt opted for decentralization and introduced associated principles in their new constitutions. While, in Tunisia, the democratic transition proved to be quite successful for several years, ensuring the reform process included substantial and challenging decentralization efforts, re-autocratization in Egypt after two military interventions seem to have stifled all reform and decentralization processes. The structures that remain in place today do not deserve the label decentralization.[1] However, other analysts argue that decentralization can also be found in authoritarian regimes, as states can implement decentralization without seriously challenging the center of power.[2]
This paper aims at examining the current situation of decentralization in Egypt since the revolution of January 25, 2011, which aimed to move towards decentralization as one of the pillars of democratic transformation. The main research problem of this paper is addressing implicit or explicit contentions regarding the issue of decentralization in Egypt, especially considering the timeline from around the eruption of the revolution and the dissolution of local councils in 2011 until the date of writing this paper.
This is done, first, by revisiting the legacy of Egyptian centralization before the January 25th revolution and how it influenced any attempt toward decentralization. Following that, the paper tackles the January 25th revolution and its influence on local administration discussions in Egypt in terms of both the level of popular demands as well as constitutional and legal reforms. The paper then moves towards discussing the four main legislation proposals that were brought before the Egyptian parliament in 2015 regarding the local administration law, along with their development up until the end of the parliamentarian term in 2020. To conclude, the paper reflects on the destiny of the unratified legislation/bill with the current parliament following the Covid-19 repercussions and amid the complex political and economic situation in Egypt. The paper concludes that Egypt has still a long path to travel toward decentralization and that it should start with legislation that complements the articles of the 2014 constitution. Furthermore, clear legislation can be the first building block in the attempt to end a long history of corruption and clientelism across Egyptian local administration entities.
[1] Thomas Demmelhuber & Roland Sturm [eds.], 2021. Decentralization in the Middle East and North Africa. Informal Politics, Subnational Governance, and the Periphery, Baden-Baden: Nomos, https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748920731
[2]Erik Vollmann, Miriam Bohn, Roland Sturm & Thomas Demmelhuber (2022) Decentralisation as authoritarian upgrading? Evidence from Jordan and Morocco, The Journal of North African Studies, 27:2, 362-393, DOI: 10.1080/13629387.2020.1787837