Tribal Politics in the Borderland of Egypt and Libya by Thomas Hüsken

Author:Thomas Hüsken
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9783319923420
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Local Government

The political system of Egypt has a number of formally democratic institutions at local, regional and national levels. These political forums are organized in a uniform manner. At the local level we find village or city councils (sing. maglis al-qaria, maglis al-madina), followed by district councils (sing. maglis al-markaz), and governorate councils (sing. al-maglis al-mahalli). At the national level, the Egyptian Parliament—the Maglis al-Nuwwab or House of Representatives (which until 2013 was called the People’s Assembly (Maglis al-Sha‘b))—forms the highest level of the representative bodies (Cole and Altorki 1998: 189ff; Hüsken Roenpage 1998: 78ff).

After Gamal Abdel Nasser’s revolution and his rise to power in 1952, there were earnest attempts to integrate the Awlad ‘Ali and turn them into ordinary Egyptian citizens (Abu Zeid 1959: 553; Abu-Lughod 1986: 42ff). In those days the institutions of local government played an important role in the political mobilization of peripheral populations. All of these forums of local government are still present on the Egyptian side of the borderland, and Awlad ‘Ali politicians have been part of them.

I was inspired by Gamal Abdel Nasser and joined the Arab Socialist Union in 1963. Nasser’s policies were about modernization, justice, and also about Arab sovereignty against the former colonial powers. The new institutions and political routines were different from tribal politics but we found a way to deal with this. When they (the Nasserists) asked us to elect representatives for the local councils we made the decision among the tribal elders. They accepted this as long as we participated in their programs. (Sheikh Kilani, al-Qasr, Egypt, 2009)

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