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11 - Egypt

Cultivating Loyalty Abroad, Repressing When Necessary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2024

Klaus Brummer
Affiliation:
Katholische Universiteit Eichstätt, Germany
Šumit Ganguly
Affiliation:
Hoover Institution, Stanford University, California
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Summary

Egypt is the most populous state in the Arab world, with just over 100 million citizens residing in the country, and Egyptian nationals have long looked abroad for opportunities. This chapter examines the evolution of the country’s policies toward its diaspora and seeks to understand how the Egyptian government has attempted to protect, assist, and cultivate loyalty among its citizens abroad, as well as how it has sought to exert further control over this population. Beginning with targeted secondment policies that aimed to spread pan-Arabist ideology in the 1950s and 1960s, and broadening to mass labor exportation agreements directed primarily toward other Arab nations in the 1970s, Egypt sought to address demographic concerns of overpopulation and an overburdened and underfinanced public sector, and to reap the benefit of remittances as a major contribution to the country’s GDP. But the chapter also addresses Egypt’s failure to establish effective governance of, and engagement with, its diaspora. This includes the overlapping responsibilities of the numerous ministries in charge of emigration, an unwillingness to resolve domestic economic issues in order to prevent further brain drain and to incentivize the return of Egyptians abroad, and the state’s continued use of transnational repression toward its citizenry.

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  • Egypt
  • Edited by Klaus Brummer, Katholische Universiteit Eichstätt, Germany, Šumit Ganguly, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, California
  • Book: States and their Nationals Abroad
  • Online publication: 04 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009531986.011
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  • Egypt
  • Edited by Klaus Brummer, Katholische Universiteit Eichstätt, Germany, Šumit Ganguly, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, California
  • Book: States and their Nationals Abroad
  • Online publication: 04 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009531986.011
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Egypt
  • Edited by Klaus Brummer, Katholische Universiteit Eichstätt, Germany, Šumit Ganguly, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, California
  • Book: States and their Nationals Abroad
  • Online publication: 04 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009531986.011
Available formats
×