Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 08/2014

Getting Democracy Promotion Right in Egypt

Amy Hawthorne

January 2014

Atlantic Council

Abstract

In a new Atlantic Council issue brief, “Getting Democracy Promotion Right in Egypt,” Amy Hawthorne contends that although the near-term prospects for democracy in Egypt are bleak, there is more the United States can do to promote democratic change over the longer term.

Hawthorne, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, argues that advancing US security interests in Egypt ultimately depends on stability there, which cannot be achieved without a consensus-based, rights-protecting political system. She acknowledges that although US influence is limited and Washington needs to deal with Egypt on a range of important security issues, democracy should still be a cornerstone of US policy toward Egypt.