@conference {17071,
	title = {What is Power in Egypt?: The Welding of Economic and Political Power in an Authoritarian State},
	booktitle = {WCFIA Undergraduate Thesis Conference},
	year = {2013},
	month = {February 9, 2013},
	publisher = {Weatherhead Center for International Affairs},
	organization = {Weatherhead Center for International Affairs},
	address = {Cambridge, MA},
	abstract = {In 2004, Egypt surprised the world by unexpectedly embarking upon an extensive program for economic reform. Many other countries in the region and around the world underwent serious structural reforms around the same time, but unlike them, Egypt liberalized its economy during a time of relative prosperity and without the direct influence of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Today{\textquoteright}s academic literature for explaining this development falls into three main strains. They are international coercion, the evolution of global economic and financial structures, or rent-seeking opportunities of internal elites. These accounts overlook the role of the international diffusion of economic ideas and its influence upon domestic decision-making. Borrowing concepts from international relations theory, this paper creates a fourth strain based on a social constructivist model for the development of norms and a model for domestic decision making in response to global economic ideas. This new strain supplements the existing strains, creating a comprehensive answer for why Egypt suddenly and rapidly reformed the structures of its economy. After establishing these four accounts, the thesis tests their veracity by analyzing as case studies three parts of Egypt{\textquoteright}s reform program{\textemdash}privatization of the private sector, the equity market, and trade policy.},
	author = {Eric Justin}
}
