Egypt and the Contradictions of Liberalism

Dalia Fahmy is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Long Island University. She lives in New Jersey. Daanish Faruqi is a PhD candidate in History at Duke University, North Carolina.

‘Gives useful insights into the history of liberal though and its current situation inside and outside Egypt.’

• 1 Egyptian liberals, from revolution to counterrevolution | Daanish Faruqi and Dalia F. Fahmy IntroductionThe genealogies of Egyptian liberalismStructure of the argumentConclusion: Is liberalism contradictory? SECTION I: LIBERALISM AND THE EGYPTIAN STATE 2 Egypt’s structural illiberalism: How a weak party system undermines participatory politics | Dalia F. Fahmy The party system in EgyptElections in Egypt and why they matterThe parliament as a site of contestationPolitical parties after the revolution: A liberal possibilityParticipatory politics under SCAF and the rise of the Muslim BrotherhoodThe 2015 parliament: The political consolidation of authoritarian ruleConclusion 3 Nasser’s comrades and Sadat’s brothers: Institutional legacies and the downfall of the Second Egyptian Republic | Hesham Sallam The failure of contingent consentInstitutional legacies and the limitations of agency-centered narrativesThe origins of the political fieldConclusion 4 (De)liberalizing judicial independence in Egypt | Sahar F. AzizThe three prongs of liberalism: Private, political, and legal libertyThe liberal roots of Egypt’s judiciaryIncremental deliberalization in the Mubarak eraA counterrevolution in the courtsConclusion SECTION II: LIBERALISM AND EGYPTIAN CIVIL SOCIETY5 The authoritarian state’s power over civil society | Ann M. LeschThe structures of authoritarianismThe post-25 January military regimeMohammad Morsi’s contradictory policiesGeneral Sisi’s constriction of the public spaceThe consolidation of authoritarian control 6 Myth or reality?: The discursive construction of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt | Mohamad ElmasryThe Egyptian press systemDisloyal to EgyptAnti-revolutionaryConclusion 7 Student political activism in democratizing Egypt | Abdel-Fattah MadyIntroductionEmergence of Egypt’s student movementStudent activism under NasserStudent activism during Sadat’s eraStudent activism during Mubarak’s eraPost-January 25, 2011 revolutionConclusion SECTION III: ISLAM, SECULARISM, AND THE STATE8 Egypt’s secularized intelligentsia and the guardians of truth | Khaled Abou El Fadl 9 The truncated debate: Egyptian liberals, Islamists, and ideological statism | Ahmed Abdel Meguid and Daanish FaruqiIntroductionLiberals and the state: Authoritarian modernismIslamists and the state: The modernist paradoxConclusion: Post-Islamism and post-liberalism as post-statism SECTION IV: EGYPTIAN LIBERALS IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE POST-201310 Conflict and reconciliation: “Arab liberalism” in Syria and Egypt | Emran El-BadawiIntroductionState advocacy and the beginnings of Arab liberalismActivism and state opposition: The later development of Arab liberalismEgypt and Syria no moreSilencing liberal activism in Egypt, ca. 1979–2013Activists in conflict and artists in reconciliation, Egypt, ca. 2013–Temporary reconciliation with Assad, Syrian intellectuals, ca. 1982–2012Conflict, exile and civil war: Liberal activism in Syria, ca. 2000–12Burhan Ghalioun and Gaber Asfour, ca. 1990–2010The Arab uprisings, 2011Ghalioun and the SNC, 2011–12Asfour, the ministry and Egypt’s return to military rule, 2011–14RabaaThe limits of Arab liberalism 11 Egypt’s new liberal crisis | Joel GordonHeroes of the revolutionThe liberal crisis reconsideredPostscript: Five years on 12 Egyptian liberals and their anti-democratic deceptions: A contemporary sad narrative | Amr HamzawyLiberal ideas at a crossroadsGrand deception one – SequentialismGrand deception two – Nothing is more important than…Grand deception three – The notion of national necessityGrand deception four – Religion and politicsGrand deception five – The state above everyone and everythingConcluding remarks – Fascist techniques stepped up Conclusion: Does liberalism have a future in Egypt? | Emad El-Din ShahinA liberal legacyNew beginnings About the contributorsIndex