A Contract with the People
Egypt has one of the world’s oldest, largest, and perhaps most
inefficient government bureaucracies. The government pro-
vides numerous services but often of poor quality. The country
is only gradually changing from a mainly socialist state—in
which the government owns and operates most businesses and
services—to a mostly capitalist state in which private institu-
tions perform all but the essential national functions. (The
economic aspects of Egypt’s transformation from socialism to
capitalism are discussed in the next chapter.)
Egypt’s government has an agreement with its people: It
will take care of them. It tries to be a welfare state by promis-
ing every Egyptian that no matter what else is going on in the
country or abroad, the government will try to help feed, clothe,