Welfare Reform and Characteristics of Authoritarian Rule in Sisi's Egypt

This study examines how the welfare regime in (republic) authoritarian states in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) transformed after the 2011 Arab Spring uprising. Therefore, it primarily focuses on poverty alleviation programmes undertaken in Egypt by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s administration. The Arab Spring resulted in Egypt’s democratisation but the fledgling democratic state was fragile and was almost immediately overthrown by Sisi’s coup in 2013. The country then experienced a return to (much harsher) authoritarian rule under Sisi, who strictly controlled elections and suppressed social movements. Sisi’s rule can be also characterised as the era of welfare reform or welfare retrenchment to some extent. Egypt’s food subsidy programme was criticised before the Arab Spring for its ineffectiveness as a poverty alleviation measure. It is now better rationalised by introducing a smart card system and the programme excludes the middle classes and higher strata. Sisi also introduced a direct cash transfer programme (takaful wa karama) in December 2014, which comprises two schemes targeting distinct social groups. The takaful scheme represents a conditional cash transfer meant for families with children in poverty. The karama scheme denotes unconditional cash transfers for the elderly and the severely handicapped. Sisi’s Egyptian government also introduced the forsa programme intended to graduate beneficiaries of the cash transfer programme (takaful wa karama) to economic self-reliance by enabling them to engage in wage employment or sustainable economic enterprises. Notably, such drastic changes had not been observed before the Arab Spring uprising. This study analyses the features of the current welfare reforms accomplished by the Sisi administration. It will also examine how the Arab Spring of 2011 inspired changes in the characteristics of Egypt’s subsequent authoritarian government and impacted current welfare reforms focusing predominantly on poverty alleviation programmes.