Transition In Egypt Research Articles

Introduction – Urban Actors Put to the Test by the Egyptian Transition1

Three years have passed since the 2011 revolution led to the fall of the Mubarak regime. This lapse of time has given the contributors to Egypte Monde Arabe enough perspective to see more clearly through the events and players of the transition in Egypt. Specifically, this new issue is dedicated to urban players – government authorities, planners, and citizens –, their inclusion in the mechanisms of change set in motion in 2011, their repositioning on the professional and political scenes, an...

Judicial institutions, the legitimacy of Islamic state law and democratic transition in Egypt: Can a shift toward a common law model of adjudication improve the prospects of a successful democratic transition?

Egyptian law has undergone radical institutional change over the last 150 years, evolving from a decentralized system of largely uncodified Islamic law, into a highly centralized, positivist system modeled along the civil law system of France. The last quarter of the nineteenth century witnessed the wholesale adoption of European law, including the Napoleonic Code. After regaining independence, however, the Egyptian legal system has been steadily attempting to re-Islamize itself, beginning with the Sanhuri Code that replaced the Napoleonic Code in 1949 and the adoption of Article 2 in the Constitution in 1980 recognizing the Shari’a as the source of legislation for the Egyptian state. This article contrasts the jurisprudence of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) construing the meaning of “shari’a” with the practice of ordinary Egyptian courts construing Egypt’s civil code. It argues that the SCC has been able to garner a relatively high degree of legitimacy than the Sanhuri Code because its practice in construing the “shari’a” in constitutional challenges requires it to adopt common law style reasoning, while the ordinary courts are dominated by a positivist outlook on law which undermines its ability to claim Islamic legitimacy. This article argues that a broader shift to a common law culture would increase the Islamic legitimacy of Egypt’s overall legal system; facilitate Egyptian courts’ reconciliation with the constitutional commitments to Islamic authenticity, modernization, and human rights; and assist in Egypt’s democratic transition.

Arab Spring in Egypt: revolution and beyond

Beginning in Tunisia, and spreading to as many as seventeen Arab countries, the street protests of the 'Arab Spring' in 2011 empowered citizens and banished their fear of speaking out against governments. The Arab Spring belied Arab exceptionalism, widely assumed to be the natural state of stagnation in the Arab world amid global change and progress. The collapse in February 2011 of the regime in the region's most populous country, Egypt, led to key questions of why, how, and with what consequences did this occur?Inspired by the contentious politics school and Social Movement Theory, Arab Spring in Egypt addresses these issues, examining the reasons behind the collapse of Egypt's authoritarian regime; analyzing the group dynamics in Tahrir Square of various factions: labor, youth, Islamists, and women; describing economic and external issues and comparing Egypt's transition with that of Indonesia; and reflecting on the challenges of transition.

Pious Way to Politics: The Rise of Political Salafism in Post‐Mubarak Egypt

AbstractThe Arab Spring has reshaped the Islamist landscape in the Middle East drastically. After decades of repression and exclusion, Islamist parties have taken power in Egypt, Tunis, and Morocco. However, the startling rise of Salafism (Salafiyya) remains the most visible feature of the new Islamist scene in the region. After decades of eschewing politics for theological and political reasons, Salafi movements and groups have rushed into electoral politics enthusiastically. They became keen to form political parties, contest elections, and vie for power. In Egypt, the Salafi parties fared well in the post‐revolution parliamentary elections and are a key player in drafting Egypt's new constitution. This article explores the rise of Salafism after Mubarak and examines its effects on the democratic transition in Egypt. It investigates the ideological and theological stance of Salafi movements and parties on politics and democracy in particular. The argument put forward is that the extraordinary political openness in Egypt after the revolution has pushed Salafis into everyday politics. Subsequently, Salafis have become more inclined to adopt a pragmatic and practical discourse. Based on field research, this article provides a thematic analysis of Egyptian Salafism and assesses its political future.

The nutrition transition in Egypt: the double burden of over‐ and undernutrition at the household level examining mother‐child pairs

Egypt has seen an increase in overweight and obesity over the last two decades. This study aims to identify current prevalence and associated risk factors for an intra‐household double burden of over‐ and undernutrition in Egypt by examining mother‐child pairs using 2008 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey data. This study reports contemporary data on the nutrition transition in Egypt by looking at overweight and obesity (BMI ≥ 25) in mothers age 19–49 alongside stunting (height‐for‐age z‐score <‐2) and underweight (weight‐for‐age z‐score <‐2) in children age five and under within the same household. Using bivariate and multivariate analyses, we found an 8.8% prevalence of an intra‐household double burden of malnutrition in a total sample of 16,527 mothers. Of all mothers who were overweight/obese (47.5%), 18.5% had at least one stunted child, 5.1% had at least one underweight child, and 3.2% had both a stunted and underweight child. Multiple demographic and dietary factors may contribute to this double burden, including infant feeding practices, socio‐economic status, area of residency, and number of children. This study demonstrates a clear double burden of over‐ and undernutrition at the household level, and emphasizes the continued importance of addressing factors related to the nutrition transition in Egypt. Support for this research comes from the Global Health Leadership Institute at YSPH.

Breaking out of Authoritarianism: 18 Months of Political Transition in Egypt

Breaking out of Authoritarianism: 18 Months of Political Transition in Egypt

Postscript to “Breaking out of Authoritarianism: 18 Months of Political Transition in Egypt”

Postscript to “Breaking out of Authoritarianism: 18 Months of Political Transition in Egypt”

Democracy Post-2011 Arab Spring: Perceptions and Election Fairness in Egypt

Abstract The democratic transition in Egypt post 25th of January Revolution reveals a correlation between popular perceptions of election fairness and views of local election monitors regarding election procedures. The changes in popular perceptions of the political environment in which the democratic transition is taking place seems to cast a shadow over the perception of election fairness. A relationship which in turn reveals the unresolved dilemma in the region between both the philosophy of democracy and the mechanisms of democracy; a factor that would be determinant to the democratic transition in the region as manifested in the example of Egypt. Different levels of election fairness were perceived despite similar Election Day procedural violations in both pre- and post-Arab Spring Egypt.

Towards a New Eastern Mediterranean Energy Corridor? Natural Gas Developments between Market Opportunities and Geopolitical Risks

The Eastern Mediterranean region is rapidly changing. The turbolent political transition in Egypt after the Arab Spring, the civil war in Syria, the emergence of Turkey as leading regional power, the tensions between Israel and Gaza and the never-ending dispute between Turkey and the Republic of Cyprus are -all together- reshuffling the regional geopolitical equilibrium. At the same time natural gas findings are flourishing in the offshore of Egypt, Israel, and Cyprus, reshaping the regional energy map and rapidly making the Eastern Mediterranean a world-class natural gas province. These geopolitical and energy pressures are rapidly converging, generating a number of new challenges and opportunities for each player in the region. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview on these new regional developments and to propose a critical discussion of the market opportunities and geopolitical risks related to the potential emergence of a new Eastern Mediterranean Energy Corridor.

Popular Discontent, Revolution, and Democratization in Egypt in a Globalizing World

This paper examines how informal, discontent actors in Egypt have evolved in a globalizing world and their role in the January 25th revolution. It focuses on the effects of the deteriorating economic and social conditions in Egypt related to the former regime's policy and the role of mass media, information, and communication technologies in facilitating mobilization, recruitment, and eventually the popular uprising. This paper also discusses the issue of how informal discontent protesters and groups formulate their goals and organize themselves to exert pressure on formal institutions of the state. The main conclusion is that informal actors have not yet managed to develop a shared political agenda with a focus on democratic transition in Egypt and have instead regressed to their own goals and agendas. In light of current political polarization, this paper concludes that there is a need to form a historical block on the basis of democracy or a national-unity government to be able to set priorities and build the desired democratic system.

Obama Administration Prepared to Support Democratic Transition in Egypt with $1 Billion in Debt Relief

Obama Administration Prepared to Support Democratic Transition in Egypt with $1 Billion in Debt Relief

Liberal Democracy Promotion in Iraq: A Model for the Middle East and North Africa?

This article asks whether there are lessons that can be drawn from the democratization of Iraq for the possible democratization of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in the wake of the 2010–2011 Arab uprisings. The paper draws on the democratization program in Iraq in 2003 and 2004 to demonstrate that focusing on the promotion of a liberal democratic model in Iraq translated into a lack of operational flexibility, which let democracy assistance unable to cope with socio-economic demands, local realities and reactions to democratization. Taking into account a variation in the intensity of interventionism between Iraq and MENA, the article argues that there is sufficient similarities between both cases to point Western democracy promoters in the direction of models of democracy that offer a more comprehensive response to the current political transition in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya than the traditional focus on the promotion of liberal democracy does.

UN Constitutional Assistance Projects in Comprehensive Peace Missions: An Inventory 1989–2011

UN Constitutional Assistance Projects in Comprehensive Peace Missions: An Inventory 1989–2011

Party proliferation and electoral transition in post-Mubarak Egypt

In the aftermath of the popular revolt that overthrew President Mubarak in February 2011, Egypt's transition to democracy has been a cautious one. Despite the restrained pace of reform, one of the defining features of post-Mubarak politics has been a surge in the number of new political parties contesting seats in Parliament. This paper argues that the nature of Egypt's new mixed-member majoritarian electoral system encourages loose alliances dominated by three political factions: liberals, leftists, and religious parties. It focuses on Egypt's new electoral framework, emerging political realities, and those parties likely to shape the political landscape in the future.

The Muslim Brotherhood and Democratic Transition in Egypt

As Egypt’s largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood is uniquely situated to play a leading role in this era of political transition. Although some welcome the Brotherhood’s involvement, others view its growing infl uence with apprehension and dismay. Such diff ering reactions refl ect serious disagreements about the credibility of the Brotherhood’s commitments to pluralism and democracy, as well as on whether its rising power poses a threat to regional peace and stability. At the core of such disagreements are fundamental diff erences of opinion on a number of key issues. First, what is the Brotherhood and what does it want? Second, how much support does it enjoy among members of the wider Egyptian public, and how well-positioned is it to convert that support into political power? Th ird, and perhaps most consequentially, to what extent, and in what ways, has the Brotherhood moved away from its radical anti-system past? Such questions raise the larger issue of whether “fundamentalist” religious groups are capable of self-transformation through their involvement in the give-and-take of democratic politics, a subject with broader relevance to our understanding of social movement change writ large.

The Cultural Economy of Development in Egypt: Economic Nationalism, Hidden Economy and the Emergence of Mass Consumer Society during Sadat's Infitah

The article presents a new overview on economic transition in Egypt, emphasizing the role of culture in shaping its recent economic history. Since partial independence, and culminating in the heyday of the Nasserite regime, ‘economic nationalism’ became a predominant national identity mark and a concept central to a local sense of authenticity. The article discusses the meaning of economic nationalism and why it turned such a powerful symbol of Egyptianness. The prevalence of this idea slowed down a transformation to an alternative economic regime when the development effort associated with economic nationalism partially failed. Instead, a huge and unregulated (‘hidden’) economy emerged, together with a corollary local consumer society. Fiercely resisted in a public discourse captivated by an older economic imagination, both have still shaped the Egyptian economy ever since.

Youth Exclusion in Egypt: In Search of 'Second Chances'

Egypt is at a stage in its demographic transition with a marked youth bulge, a period in which the proportion of youth in the population increases significantly compared to other age groups. The objective of this paper is to look closely at youth in Egypt with the lens of exclusion as a guiding conceptual framework. The crux of the exclusion framework is that while some experience a successful transition to jobs, financial stability and personal independence with the ability to form families of their own; others experience unemployment; end up with dead-end low-paying jobs, and defer forming families due to the high financial costs of this important life transition in Egypt. With Egypt's economic revival, which began in 2004, there has been a notable improvement in labor market conditions. However, the youth continue to be a most disadvantaged group in terms of higher rates of unemployment, lower earnings, and limited job security and stability, with the majority of new entrants finding jobs within the informal economy. The youth also experience a virtual devaluation of their education credentials compared to earlier cohort. Work opportunities are inter-related with the other dimensions of youth exclusion that we address in this paper: education and learning; potentials for forming families and channels for exercising citizenship. Exclusion is a cumulative process, with each of these life transitions having an overlapping impact on the others. This paper shows that youth exclusion is highly gendered. While female school enrollment rates have significantly increased in the past few decades; there remains a significant minority of girls deprived of schooling particularly in rural Upper Egypt. Similarly, while labor market conditions have improved for most groups, recent analysis shows some alarming trends in female employment, with many out-of-school young women aged 15-29 being economically inactive; and with a significant proportion of those who are economically active being unpaid family workers. Young women are also four times as likely to be unemployed as young men.

Rule and Revenue in Egypt and Rome: Political Stability and Fiscal Institutions

Herrschaft und Staatseinkommen in ?gypten und Rom: Zur Wechselwirkung von Politischer Stabilit?t und Besteuerung?. This paper investigates what determines fiscal institutions and the burden of taxation using a case study from ancient history. It evaluates Levi's model of taxation in the Roman Republic, according to which rulers' high discount rates in periods of political instability encour age them to adopt a more predatory fiscal regime. The evi dence for fiscal reform in the transition from the Republic to the Principate seems to support her hypothesis but re mains a matter of debate among historians. Egypt's transi tion from a Hellenistic kingdom to a Roman province under the Principate provides an analogous case for which there are better data. The Egyptian evidence shows a correlation between rulers' discount rates and fiscal regimes that is consistent with Levi's hypothesis.

Health Transition in Egypt

Health Transition in Egypt

The Fertility Transition in Egypt: Intraurban Patterns in Cairo

Fertility transitions are historically thought to have started in cities and then spread to the rest of the country. This would suggest that in Egypt we would find that Cairo was well ahead of the rest of the nation in its fertility transition. The data suggest otherwise and highlight the fact that many parts of Cairo are still experiencing high levels of fertility. Population geographers have generally examined differences only between urban and nonurban areas, but incorporating census tract level data from the 1996 and 1986 censuses of Egypt into a geographic information system, we are able to show that there are substantial intraurban geographic variations in fertility within the greater Cairo area. These spatial patterns are indicative of underlying clusters of differences in human reproduction that have important implications for understanding the decline of fertility within Cairo and the spread of that decline throughout the remainder of Egypt.