THE FAILED MANAGEMENT OF A DYING REGIME: HOSNI MUBARAK, EGYPT'S NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, AND THE JANUARY 25 REVOLUTION

THE NDP'S APPROACH TO THE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGE Party and regime leaders in both democratic and authoritarian regimes face what can be termed the "management challenge": the task of efficiently managing dozens of external actors while maintaining stability and meeting organizational objectives (Figure 2).4 In order for an organization to grow, survive, or profit, a manager must maintain unique relationships with each external actor and attempt to meet (or mitigate) their needs. Middle Eastern leaders today face two options to effectively weather the current Arab Spring: either ( 1 ) they must adjust their approach to the rising external actors in their individual management challenges, either by becoming more repressive and violent, or by allowing more opposition and increasing citizen involvement; or (2) they must completely overturn the fundamental assumptions that have underpinned their managerial strategy for so many years by dismantling the insular elite circles of the ruling parties and adopting an attitude of accountability and responsiveness towards their citizens.