Mirages of Reform : The Politics of Elite Protectionism in the Arab World

In Mirages of Reform, Steve L. Monroe argues that geopolitics and social connections between state and capital underpin the Arab world's uneven trade policies.Despite decades of international pressure, neoliberal trade policy reform in the Arab world has been varied, selective, and often ineffective.Neoliberal trade policies have not deepened international trade in many of the region's markets.This book explains why. When the region's regimes have strong support from global powers and strong social connections to the industrial elite, they engage in extensive but deceptive trade policy reform.Behind an edifice of neoliberal trade policies, neopatrimonial forms of protectionism like tax evasion and noncompetitive procurement shield the socially connected from international competition and obstruct actual trade liberalization.Industrialists are less trustful of regime promises of neopatrimonial protectionism after reform when they have weak social connections to their regime and their re