In the cities of the Arab world, while the media focus overwhelmingly on questions of religiosity and war, the future of urban modernity and political globalism is taking shape. As the Egyptian state reaches out to capture the apparent promises of neoliberalism, Cairenes struggle over and redefine their place, identity, and material welfare.

Diane Singerman is associate professor in the Department of Government at the School of Public Affairs of American University. She is the author of Avenues of Participation: Family, Politics, and Networks in Urban Quarters of Cairo, and editor of Cairo Contested (AUC Press, 2009).
Paul Amar is assistant professor of law and society at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is co-editor of The Middle East in Brazil: South-South Relations, Migrations and Recognitions and Police Planet: The Global/Local Origins of Authoritarian Security.