ABSTRACT
Egypt’s experimentation with different developmental strategies makes it a sort of laboratory for gauging the efficacy of policy options. Just as the developmental state was the dominant model in the 1960s and 1970s, so the neo-liberal state is now in fashion.1 But none of the strategies Egypt has pursued has yet been shown to be so clearly superior to others in advancing it along the road to equitable development that debate over appropriate policies has been quieted or differences resolved. Given this, prescriptions for reform must depart from some interpretation of the record that has so far accumulated.
