Egypt

Paper Summary:

This paper provides an overview of civil society in Egypt. Firstly, a brief historical overview of civil society in Egypt is presented and an analytical overview of the political situation in Egypt is provided, illustrating the authoritarian nature of the regime and assessing the influence of the regime on the growth and nature of civil society. Next, an analytical overview of the economic situation in Egypt is presented, assessing the influence of the economic malaise on the growth of civil society. Next, a sectoral overview of civil society organizations in Egypt is presented, by dividing the civil organizations in to categories (service provision, charity and welfare, guilds and unions, development civil society organizations, political parties, human rights/citizenship rights, research organizations, cultural groups, and finally sports clubs) and within this section, several organizations within each category are discussed, in terms of their activities. This section includes information on the total number of CSOs in Egypt. This section also highlights the fact that a culturally specific approach is necessary when discussing CSOs in Egypt, as a large quantity of Islamic groups are spread throughout the sectors. Next, an in-depth analysis of three groups and their activities is presented: one Islamic, one political party (maybe the Muslim brotherhood) and one an International NGO.

From the Paper:

"Researchers have identified that several elements have shaped the profile of Egypt's civic sector: government policies shifted over time from laissez faire to increased government control under different regimes, yet religion has always been an element of associational life in Egypt (Kandil, 1999). In a 1993 survey, it was found that about 31% of associations were Islamic and about 7% were Christian: most of these organizations provided health services, social assistance, and religious services (Kandil, 1999). Further influences on civil society have been identified (by Ibrahim et al., 1998) as the state, traditional forces (via the Communities of Virtue), and external Western forces: it is argued that the current status of civil society in Egypt has come about due to a complex historical - and current - relationship between these three factors (Ibrahim et al., 1998)."

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