Slippery devil, this democracy. What the hell is it anyway? For some it means individual rights and liberty; for others, collective self-determination. For many it’s simply a question of periodic votes for this or that politician. For a few it’s a principle that should inform all aspects of political and economic life. For the advocates of corporate globalization, there are no doubts: democracy equals market freedom; their language is expansive and inviting – free-market globalization opens societies, erodes bureaucratic prerogatives and expands democratic possibilities as surely as it fattens wallets. Others are not so sure.
Take Egypt, for example. The most important country in the Middle East, measured by population (more than 80 million) and strategic position, it has since the 1980s maintained ‘open door’ policies for corporate globalization. The National Democratic Party state has, despite its name, been a virtual dictatorship since it grew out of the military regime that had been in power since the early 1950s. Anwar Sadat, who replaced Gamal Abdel Nasser as President in 1970, felt that the nationalist regime needed a civilian face: thus the National Democratic Party.
