Capital city boosterism as policy legitimation: A discursive perspective of Egypt's New Administrative Capital

Abstract

This article examines the legitimation of capital city relocation from a discursive perspective. It specifically focuses on how policymakers in developing countries often use boosters' language to legitimize the relocation of capital city functions. Drawing on critical discourse analysis as a theoretical frame and Egypt as a case, this article examines the ways in which government and property developers have succeeded in weaving the logics of the New Administrative Capital (NAC) into Greater Cairo's broader development discourse. The study highlights policy actors' legitimation strategies, locating them within the broader urban boosterism and south-south policy transfer literature. By emphasizing on policy actors' use of texts and imagery at the local level, the article demonstrates how discourse, as an instrument of power and control, is used by policy entrepreneurs to perpetuate non-participation in Global South urban policy-making.