Abstract
Until recently, political parties have been largely ignored in analyses of the politics of the Middle East. Parties were seen as irrelevant to an understanding of political dynamics under authoritarian conditions. The Arab uprisings of 2011 initiated a shift in perceptions, particularly, as electoral politics appeared to have assumed a newfound significance. In the case of Egypt, a formerly controlled political system witnessed a brief flourishing of political parties on a scale unimaginable a few years previously, as a diversity of parties, old and new, secular and religious in orientation, entered or re-entered the political arena. Yet, within two years, an opportunistic alliance between secular actors and the Egyptian military unseated the country’s first elected president and, ultimately, put an end to Egypt’s experiment with multiparty politics. This chapter examines the literature on party politics and democratisation before exploring the role played by parties in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) prior to the 2011 uprisings. This is followed by a critical analysis of the trajectory of political opposition in Egypt before and after the demise of the Mubarak regime. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the factors that explain opposition party dynamics and the broader implications of this for Egypt’s political future.
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Notes
- 1.
Siavush Randjbar-Daemi, Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi & Lauren Banko, ‘Introduction to political parties in the Middle East: historical trajectories and future prospects,’ British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 44, no 2 (2017): 155–158.
- 2.
Alan Ware, Political Parties and Party Systems, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), 5.
- 3.
Lisa Storm and Francesco Cavatorta, ‘Do Arabs not do parties? An introduction and exploration’ in Political Parties in the Arab World: Continuity and Change, ed. Lisa Storm and Francesco Cavatorta (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2018), 3; Rod Hague, Martin Harrop and Shaun Breslin, Comparative Government and Politics: An Introduction (Houndmills: Macmillan, 1992), 235–236.
- 4.
Mohammad Yaghi, ‘Why did Tunisian and Egyptian youth activists fail to build competitive political parties?’ in Political Parties in the Arab World: Continuity and Change, ed. Lisa Storm and Francesco Cavatorta (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2018), 306.
- 5.
Siavush et al., ‘Introduction to political parties,’ 156.
- 6.
Ray Hinnebusch, ‘Political parties in MENA: their functions and development’ British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 44, no 3 (2017): 161.
- 7.
Shadi Hamid, ‘Political Party Development Before and After the Arab Spring’ in Beyond the Arab Spring: The Evolving Ruling Bargain in the Middle East, ed. Mehran Kamrava (Oxford: Oxford University Press: 2014), 133.
- 8.
As’ad Abukhalil, ‘Change and Democratisation in the Arab World: The Role of Political Parties,’ Third World Quarterly, 18, no 1 (1997), 156.
- 9.
Hinnebusch, ‘Political parties in MENA,’ 161.
- 10.
Hamid, ‘Political Party Development,’ 132.
- 11.
Storm and Cavatorta, ‘Do Arabs not,’ 4–5.
- 12.
Storm and Cavatorta, ‘Do Arabs not,’ 9–10.
- 13.
Storm and Cavatorta, ‘Do Arabs not,’ 9–10.
- 14.
Jan Claudius Volkel, ‘Sidelined by Design: Egypt’s parliament in transition,’ The Journal of North African Studies, 22, no 4 (2017): 599.
- 15.
Hamid, ‘Political Party Development,’ 138.
- 16.
Maye Kassem, Egyptian Politics: The Dynamics of Authoritarian Rule, (Boulder, Colo: Lynne Rienner, 2004), 51.
- 17.
Michelle Dunne, Michelle and Amr Hamzawy (2017), ‘Egypt’s Secular Political Parties: A Struggle for Identity and Independence,’ Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, http://carnegieendowment.org/2017/03/31/egypt-s-secular-political-parties-struggle-for-identity-and-independence-pub-68482
- 18.
Eberhard, Kienle, A Grand Delusion: Democracy and Economic Reform in Egypt, (London: IB Tauris, 2001).
- 19.
Fahmy, Ninette, The Politics of Egypt: State-Society Relationship, (London: Routledge, 2002).
- 20.
Joshua A. Stacher, ‘Parties Over: The Demise of Egypt’s Opposition Parties,’ British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 31, no 2 (2004): 221.
- 21.
Jason Brownlee, ‘The Decline of Pluralism in Mubarak’s Egypt,’ Journal of Democracy, 13, no 4 (2002): 9.
- 22.
Vincent Durac, ‘The Impact of External Actors on the Distribution of Power in the Middle East: the Case of Egypt,’ Journal of North African Studies, 14, no 1 (2009): 79–80.
- 23.
Collombier, Virginie, ‘Politics Without Parties: Political Change and Democracy Building in Egypt Before and After the Revolution,’ European University Institute Working Paper, MWP 2013/35 (2013): 3, http://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/29040
- 24.
Stephan Roll, ‘Managing Change: how Egypt’s military leadership shaped the transformation,’ Mediterranean Politics, 21, no 2 (2016): 26.
- 25.
Volkel, ‘Sidelined by Design,’ 600.
- 26.
Lina Khatib, ‘Political Participation and Democratic Transition in the Arab World,’ University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, 24 (2013): 325.
- 27.
Volkel, ‘Sidelined by Design,’ 601.
- 28.
Neil Ketchley, Egypt in a Time of Revolution: Contentious Politics and the Arab Spring, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017): 87.
- 29.
Dunne and Hamzawy, ‘Egypt’s Secular Political Parties,’ 12.
- 30.
Volkel, ‘Sidelined by Design,’ 601.
- 31.
Dunne and Hamzawy, ‘Egypt’s Secular Political Parties,’ 15.
- 32.
Dunne and Hamzawy, ‘Egypt’s Secular Political Parties,’ 16.
- 33.
Volkel, ‘Sidelined by Design,’ 604.
- 34.
Bassem Sabry, ‘Absolute Power: Morsi Decree Stuns Egyptian,’ Al-Monitor, November 22, 2012, https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2012/al-monitor/morsi-decree-constitution-power.html
- 35.
Ketchley, ‘Egypt in a Time,’ 100.
- 36.
Roll, ‘Managing Change,’ 32.
- 37.
Roll, ‘Managing Change,’ 33.
- 38.
Ketchley, Egypt in a Time, 103–104; Mohammed Moussa, ‘Protests, Islamism and the waning prospect of revolution in Egypt,’ The Journal of North African Studies, 20, no 5 (2015): 790.
- 39.
Human Rights Watch, ‘All According to Plan: The Rab’a Massacre and Mass Killings of Protesters in Egypt’ (2014), https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/08/12/all-according-plan/raba-massacre-and-mass-killings-protesters-egypt
- 40.
Joshua Stacher, ‘Fragmenting states, new regimes: militarized state violence and transition in the Middle East,’ Democratization, 22, no 2 (2015): 269.
- 41.
Roll, ‘Managing Change,’ 33.
- 42.
Dunne and Hamzawy, ‘Egypt’s Secular Political Parties,’ 21.
- 43.
Zainab Abul-Magd, ‘The Military,’ Adelphi Series, 55 Nos 453–454 (2015): 65.
- 44.
Volkel, ‘Sideline by Design,’ 605–606.
- 45.
Dunne and Hamzawy, ‘Egypt’s Secular Political Parties,’ 22–24.
- 46.
Hamzawy, Amr, ‘Egypt’s Resilient And Evolving Social Activism’ (2017b): 4 available at http://carnegieendowment.org/files/CP304_Hamzawy_Activism_Final_Web.pdf; Volkel, ‘Sidelined by Design,’ 609.
- 47.
Mieczysāaw P Boduszyñski, Kristin Fabbe, and Christopher Lamont, ‘Are Secular Parties the Answer?’ Journal of Democracy, 26, no 4 (2015): 127.
- 48.
Dunne and Hamzawy, ‘Egypt’s Secular Political Parties,’ 4.
- 49.
Collombier, ‘Politics without Parties,’ 3.
- 50.
Collombier, ‘Politics without Parties,’ 8–9.
- 51.
Collombier, ‘Politics without Parties,’ 13.
- 52.
Yaghi, ‘Why Did Tunisian,’ 311–314.
- 53.
Boduszyñski et al., ‘Are Secular Parties,’ 127.
- 54.
Khalil Al-Anani, ‘Upended Path: The Rise and Fall of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood,’ Middle East Journal, 69, no 4 (2015): 530–535.
- 55.
Dunne and Hamzawy, ‘Egypt’s Secular Political Parties,’ 14.
- 56.
Stacher, ‘Fragmenting States,’ 267–268.
- 57.
Abul-Magd, ‘The Military,’ 63.
- 58.
Robert Springborg, ‘The rewards of failure: persisting military rule in Egypt,’ British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 44, no 4 (2017): 487.
- 59.
Richard Spencer, ‘60,000 Egypt prisoners on “torture assembly line”.’ The Times, September 6, 2017.
- 60.
Human Rights Watch, Egypt: ‘Events of 2016’, available at: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2017/country-chapters/egypt
- 61.
Amr Hamzawy, Legislating Authoritarianism: Egypt’s New Era of Repression, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington D.C. (2017a), http://carnegieendowment.org/2017/03/16/legislating-authoritarianism-egypt-s-new-era-of-repression-pub-68285
- 62.
Hamzawy, ‘Legislating Authoritarianism,’ 10–17.
- 63.
Eva Bellin, ‘Coercive Institutions and Coercive Leaders’ in Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Regimes and Resistance, ed. Marsha Pripstein-Posusney and Michele Penner Angrist (Boulder: Lynn Rienner, 2004): 27.
- 64.
Bruce Riedel, ‘Saudi Arabia Cheers the Coup in Egypt,’ Brookings (2013), https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/saudi-arabia-cheers-the-coup-in-egypt/
- 65.
Patricia Zengerle, ‘U.S. spending bill restores aid to Egypt, includes $1.5 billion,’ Reuters, January 14, 2015, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-usa-aid/u-s-spending-bill-restores-aid-to-egypt-includes-1-5-billion-idUSBREA0D16Z20140114
- 66.
European Union Delegation to the United Nations, ‘Statement by EU HR Ashton on developments in Egypt,’ 2013, available at http://eu-un.europa.eu/articles/en/article_13725_en.htm
- 67.
Springborg, ‘The rewards of failure,’ 494.
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Durac, V. (2018). Opposition Party Political Dynamics in Egypt from the 2011 Revolution to Sisi. In: Conduit, D., Akbarzadeh, S. (eds) New Opposition in the Middle East. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8821-6_4
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