Marie Michael Library

Civil Society and the Uncivil State: Land Tenure Reform in Egypt and the Crisis of Rural Livelihoods

Bush, Ray

This paper examines the impact of recent changes in the relationship between landowners and tenants in Egypt by looking at Law 96 of 1992, which revoked rights of tenure for tenants, to see whether the proposed shift toward market-based formulas for tenancy have improved opportunities for rural civil society. It also examines the declared intentions on political liberalization and expansion of rural civil society of the Government of Egypt (GoE) and donors, notably the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank.