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Yasmine Farouk, Nathan J. Brown, Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen, …
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Time to Pursue Democracy in Egypt
Michele Dunne outlines the major implications of Egypt’s current political climate and presents four key issues on which the U.S. should focus its attention: presidential term limits, greater freedom for political parties and movements, independent election oversight, and limiting executive branch powers under a new counter-terrorism law.
Egypt is in the early stages of a leadership succession that could swing the country toward greater openness and political competition or toward consolidated authoritarianism. President Mubarak has proposed extensive constitutional amendments that would shift some powers from the presidency to the legislative branch and revise rules for presidential and parliamentary elections, but observers are concerned that many of the changes may prove to be cosmetic. Crises in Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon have hindered the United States from pursuing its stated goal of Middle East democracy promotion, yet these developments present a unique opportunity to urge meaningful reform in Egypt without endangering stability or key regional relationships.
In a new Carnegie Policy Outlook, Michele Dunne outlines the major implications of Egypt’s current political climate and presents four key issues on which the U.S. should focus its attention: presidential term limits, greater freedom for political parties and movements, independent election oversight, and limiting executive branch powers under a new counter-terrorism law.
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Click on the link above for the full text of this Carnegie publication.
About the Author
Michele Dunne is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment and editor of the Arab Reform Bulletin. A specialist on Middle East affairs, formerly at the State Department and White House, Dunne is author of Evaluating Egyptian Reform, Integrating Democracy Promotion into U.S. Middle East Policy, and Libya: Security Is Not Enough
About the Author
Former Nonresident Scholar, Middle East Program
Michele Dunne was a nonresident scholar in Carnegie’s Middle East Program, where her research focuses on political and economic change in Arab countries, particularly Egypt, as well as U.S. policy in the Middle East.
- Islamic Institutions in Arab States: Mapping the Dynamics of Control, Co-option, and ContentionResearch
- From Hardware to Holism: Rebalancing America’s Security Engagement With Arab StatesResearch
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Robert Springborg, Emile Hokayem, Becca Wasser, …
Recent Work
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
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