Polycentric Governance and Inclusive Policies: Egypt and the Implementation of Fiscal Stimulus in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study analyzes the implementation of Egypt’s targeted fiscal stimulus to the irregular workforce in response to the COVID-19-induced partial shutdown in 2020. We utilize theoretical insights from the literature on administrative campaigns and the interagency coordination literature, as well as insights from the polycentric governance literature, to identify the approach to coordinating the work of the multiple agencies that participated in implementing the initiative and situate it within the implementation literature. We conclude that the complexity of public administration initiatives in semi-authoritarian regimes could create a pretext for expanding access to decision-making and implementation. The need for input from diverse actors creates an environment conducive to expanding participation that combines the characteristics of top-down and bottom-up approaches to policy implementation. Access to decision-making and implementation structures by non-state actors, however, remains dependent on relations with state bureaucratic agencies, both civilian, security-, and military-affiliated. The regime’s interest in maintaining control, especially control over data, and the participants’ attention to following the official line, creates a need for a dominant actor to perform certain functions beyond the ability of the participating members to accomplish. This expansion in participation therefore does not reflect an expansion in political participation.