The International Dimensions of Democratization in Egypt

This book purports to examine the international dimensions of the democratization process in Egypt in the post Cold War era; a theme which acquired significance at the academic and policy-oriented levels in light of the growing internationalization of reform arrangements in the Arab world in post 9/11 and the greater involvement of external powers in Arab politics following the Arab Spring uprisings.

During the second half of the twentieth century, the mainstream scholarship presented the democratization process as the outcome of domestic conditions not significantly influenced by actors outside the nation-state. With the end of the Cold War, this perspective was challenged as a result of the third wave of democratization and the subsequent growth of the "good governance" discourse on the agenda of the international development establishment. The new perspective attached a more significant role to external factors in the democratization process than was originally conceptualized.

Introduction. - Conventional Explanations of Egyptian Democratization. - External Factors and Democratization: A Conceptual Framework. - Egyptian Political Transformations since Independence. - Egypt s Integration into the Global Economy and the Dynamics of Political Deliberalization. - The Western Democracy Agenda in Egypt: The Persistence of the Democracy-Stability Dilemma. - Global Civil Society and Egypt s Transition: The Dynamics of the Boomerang Effect. - Egypt and the Cross-National Diffusion of Democratic Experiences. - Conclusion.