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Acknowledgments

The idea for what eventually became this book first came about in the early 1990s in Cairo during a lecture by a World Bank official. He compared Egypt’s economic reform program to the one that Poland was implementing at the time, and in particular the debt-forgiveness deal both countries made with their international creditors. This unlikely comparison intrigued me and would become the core of this study. Along the way the support of numerous people and institutions made the completion of this project possible.

I would first like to thank William Quandt, Arista Cirtautas, and Krishan Kumar for all their advice during the research and writing process. I want to thank William Quandt, whom I met while working as his research assistant at the Brookings Institution, for convincing me to come to the University of Virginia for my doctoral studies. He has been a wonderful friend and mentor since those Washington days. My greatest intellectual debt goes to David Waldner. David pushed me relentlessly, drove me crazy, and frustrated me to no end when I was his student. I will be forever grateful to him for all the amazing insights he provided (even if I didn’t always appreciate them at the time). His unrelenting constructive criticism resulted in my producing a much better study than I would have otherwise. David has become a great friend, a wonderful sounding board for ideas, and an invaluable supporter of this project.

I would also like to thank the many people in both Poland and Egypt who agreed to talk to me, answered my endless questions (and only occasionally giggled at my horrid Arabic pronunciation), and helped me better understand the process of privatization and labor’s role in public sector reform. This study would have been impossible to write without their generosity.

Many friends and colleagues in the United States, Egypt, and Poland made the completion of this project possible. I want to thank my dear friends Ranjit Singh, Beata Czajkowska, David Skully, Jillian Schwedler, Nicola Pratt, Paul Amar, Khalid Medani, Neda Zawahri, and Suzanne Simon for reading and discussing this project with me. I also want to thank Marsha Pripstein Posusney, Diane Singerman, Hilary Appel, Bob Vitalis, Bassam Haddad, Samer Shehata, Agnieszka Rybczyńska, and members of the DC Workshop on Contentious Politics, especially Christian Davenport and Virginia Haufler, for commenting on parts of this manuscript. I would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers. Their collective insights were invaluable and their comments significantly strengthened this book.

I also want to thank Anthony Shadid, Hossam Barakat, Gasser Abdel Razek, Abdel Monem Said Aly, Mustafa Kamel al-Said, Carrie Johnson, and Wilson Jacob for all their help during my research in Egypt; and Leszek Gilejko, Juliusz Gardawski, Iza Ksiażkiewicz, Rafał Towalski, David Ost, and my Polish friends and family, especially Marta Adamska, Baśka Adamska, Guśka, Piotrek, Jaś and Antek Popławscy, Iza Stypuła, Atka Tynel, and Monika Kalinowska, for all their help during my research in Poland.

Finally, I want to extend my thanks to friends in the United States who kept me sane during this long process. I especially want to thank Andrea Akel, Liz Pelcyger, Margrete Strand Rangnes, Stevens Tucker, Aileen St. George, Peter Mandaville, Katerina Vogeli, Susan Finlay, Karen Semkow, Eva Busza, Mona Russell, Molly O’Brien, Lynn Khadiagala, Lora Lumpe, and Jim Cason. I also want to thank the Barracks Row Babysitting Co-op for allowing me to have those wonderful nights out every now and then during the revisions process.

I would also like to thank the institutions whose financial assistance made this research possible: the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the International Research and Exchange Board, the Social Science Research Council, the American Council of Learned Societies, the University of Virginia, and the Global Studies Center at George Mason University. I also want to thank Foreign Language Area Studies and the Center for Arabic Studies Abroad for making it possible for me to acquire enough Arabic to conduct research in Egypt. Additionally, I would like to thank the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the American University in Cairo and the Sociology Department at the Warsaw School of Economics for welcoming me when I was conducting my field work. Finally, I would like to thank the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University and all my wonderful colleagues, and especially Andrea Bartoli, Susan Hirsch, Sandy Cheldelin, and Sara Cobb, for supporting me during the final revisions on this manuscript.

My family has been a constant source of support and love over the years. I cannot thank them enough. My brother, Martin, has been my constant and always wonderfully reliable traveling companion ever since our American adventure began in 1981. My parents, Hanna Paczyńska and Bohdan Paczyński, passed on to me their love of books, learning, and exploration. They also were a two-person grant-making institution for much of my educational career.

My deepest thanks go to my husband, Terrence Lyons, who has lived with this project for more than a decade. He never tired (or if he did, he never let me know) of listening to me talk about it and of reading the various drafts countless times. I want to thank him for all his amazing insights and for putting up with all my sometimes bizarre work habits. Most important, I want to thank him for being in my life, for being my best friend, and for his love.

I don’t think my daughter Nell really liked the process of my writing this book especially once she discovered that it would not have any colorful illustrations. But her exasperated sighs whenever I had to stay at work late did wonders to motivate me to do the final revisions. Her exuberance, her wit, and her excitement at discovering the world have been a source of constant inspiration. She truly is a wonder. Nell has also been a source of joy and hope during a time when life took many difficult turns in the final years of writing. Shortly after Nell was born, my father was diagnosed with brain cancer. In midst of grim news she made all of us smile and that was a tremendous gift. When my father passed away in April 2007, Nell’s hugs, cartwheels, and never-ending chatter injected a bit of much-needed and wonderful chaos into his funeral and memorial service. Her laughter and the special bond between her and her little cousin Asher also helped the Lyons clan as it struggled with the tragic death of my brother-in-law Brian in September 2007.

My greatest regret is that my father did not live long enough see this book published. But I am grateful that he could celebrate with me when I signed the contract for this manuscript. I will forever miss his presence in my life. I dedicate this book to my mother and to my father’s memory.