The university depoliticized: research and knowledge in an authoritarian state

This dissertation explores the impact of an authoritarian state on the university as represented by the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University in Cairo, Egypt. I examine how academics negotiate their tasks of acquiring, disseminating and producing knowledge within the confines of an authoritarian state. The 2003 Arab Human Development Report argues that a knowledge society, consisting of the acquisition, dissemination, and production of knowledge is needed to overcome developmental lags within the Arab Middle East. My dissertation explores that argument within the microcosm of the knowledge society as represented by the Faculty of Economics and Political Science. Most critically I ask the question of how the university was depoliticized by an authoritarian state. Hence, my work begins to uncover the irrelevance to the Egyptian Revolution and ouster of President Husni Mubarak in 2011. My dissertation reveals how an authoritarian state depoliticizes a university and improves our understanding of the utility of elements of the social capital concept. Known metaphorically as bridges and holes, the linkages or mechanisms (bridges) that span networks that are not affiliated with one another (holes) can inhibit or support change as well as inhibit or promote the introduction of new knowledge and resources. It is this last conceptual finding that holds most promise for future research in diverse settings.