Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 09/2008

Opposition Alliances and Democratization in Egypt

Hesham Sallam

June 2008

United States Institute of Peace

Abstract

What is the future of democracy in Egypt? What are the prospects for cooperation between the country's Islamist and non-Islamist political opposition groups? How can such cooperation be strengthened?

These questions were at the forefront of discussions at the Second Annual Wasat Generation Dialogue, held in Cairo Egypt May 27-29, 2008 and hosted by USIP, the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, and Georgetown University's Center for Democracy and Civil Society. An outgrowth of USIP's Arab Political Oppositions Project (APOP), this not-for-attribution dialogue brought together a select group of Egyptian political leaders, American academics and U.S. democracy-promoters. The conference provided a unique venue to explore the prospects for enhancing political cooperation across the ideological/religious divide in the Egyptian political arena. It also highlighted the potential to build bridges of cooperation among a new generation of political activists.

The meeting featured participants from a diverse group of Egyptian political parties1 and organizations, including:

 

 

The following discussion summarizes the meeting's major points of consensus and disagreement.