4 - Finance Capital and Empty Time

Summary

The fourth chapter shifts to the early 1990s. The 1990s and 2000s are crucial decades that saw the emergence of a new dominant social force, led by Gamal Mubarak and other businessmen associated with him, signalling the finale in the neoliberal project put in place under the previous ruling class. The financialisation of Egypt’s economy began in earnest, a process that not only created severe social tension but also marginalized other actors within the ruling class such as the military. By engaging in the debates surrounding this new social force, I argue that their decision to accelerate Egypt’s neoliberal restructuring contributed to the ultimate collapse of the ruling class and the continuing failure to create hegemony. Tracing the rise in violence and repression, I show how the pendulum swung further towards coercion under this ruling class. I pay particular attention to increasing police brutality in the everyday; electoral politics; increasing workers’ strikes; and the shift from productive to unproductive capital to highlight these changes. I argue that it is the ultimate failure of this ruling class to create a political project that could have become hegemonic that culminated in the 2011 revolution.