The Whales of the Nile: Networks, Businessmen, and Bureaucrats During the Era of Privatization in Egypt

Abstract

Social science has long been concerned with the way individuals organize themselves and how they influence or help bring about a certain social structure. Networks are an important component to economic life, both in a developed economic setting or a reforming and developing economy. An understanding of how networks operate in a specific politico-economic environment is telling of how certain bonds of affiliation, that are often informal in nature and character, act as “lubricants for getting things done” and of how order and meaning in social life is maintained.’ The role of networks in economic life and particularly during the era of belated economic reform in Egypt and other parts of the Middle East is crucial to an understanding of the reformist project and its outcome.