Journalists and Social Welfare Provisions in Egypt (1952-today): A Contribution to the Understanding of the Welfare-State Transformation Process
This article contributes to a better understanding of the transformations of Egypt’s welfare state by focusing on journalists as a specific category of social welfare beneficiaries and by adopting a socio-historical approach. In the first section, I retrace the process by which Egyptian reporters we...
Tallennettuna:
| Julkaisussa: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/esma, |
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| Päätekijä: | |
| Aineistotyyppi: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Kieli: | Anglais |
| Julkaistu: |
Égypte Soudan mondes arabes
2025
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| Aiheet: | |
| Linkit: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Yhteenveto: | This article contributes to a better understanding of the transformations of Egypt’s welfare state by focusing on journalists as a specific category of social welfare beneficiaries and by adopting a socio-historical approach. In the first section, I retrace the process by which Egyptian reporters were transformed into state employees after the nationalization of the press in May 1960. Afterwards, I focus on the prominent role the journalists’ syndicate has played in the field of social welfare since the 1970s. I explain how, in the context of economic liberalization policies initiated by Sadat and continued under Mubarak, the union became the major provider of services and benefits to its members. While at first glance one could say the syndicate has succeeded the welfare state, its close dependence on government funding reveals that it has become a state agent responsible for organizing and distributing services to journalists. Although this may seem paradoxical in an era of austerity and neoliberal policies, I argue that the government’s willingness to fund journalists’ social provisions is in line with the “carrot-and-stick” policy that has been adopted by Egyptian authorities since the 1930s to control journalists as a strategic category of cultural producers. This strategy entailed the establishment of a governmental subsidy that is paid to all unionized journalists on a monthly basis. The third part of the article focuses on this special allowance and analyses the functions it has performed since the 1980s. While confirming the results of other studies, this article provides new insight into the distinctive features of the transformations of Egypt’s welfare state, supporting the hypothesis of its gradual corporatization. |
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