Politics without parties : political change and democracy building in Egypt before and after the revolution

Abstract

This working paper is the first draft of a work in progress on party politics in contemporary Egypt. Written in early 2013, following the first round of free elections to take place after Hosni Mubarak had been ousted from power, it focuses on non-Islamist parties, their development and their role in political change before and after the popular uprising of 2011. It shows that since 2011, similarly throughout the 2000s, political mobilization in the non-Islamist sphere has mostly happened through fluid networks and alliances, rather than coherent organizations created with a view to gaining power and governing. While attempting to identify some of the obstacles that have impeded party development before and after the 2011 revolution, this draft paper also underlines the determining impact those have had on democracy building.