Delta Democracy: Pathways to Incremental Civic Revolution in Egypt and Beyond

Delta Democracy: Pathways to Incremental Civic Revolution in Egypt and Beyond
ISBN-10
0190093234
ISBN-13
9780190093235
Category
Political Science
Pages
225
Language
English
Published
2020
Publisher
Oxford University Press, USA
Authors
Catherine E. Herrold, Catherine Herrold

Description

"For decades, the United States has funded democracy promotion programs in the Middle East to little avail. Delta Democracy: Pathways to Incremental Civic Revolution in Egypt and Beyond argues that there is another way forward for US democracy aid. Drawing upon the author's ethnographic research on Egypt's nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, Delta Democracy uncovers the strategies that local NGOs used to incrementally build a more democratic and just society. As it takes the reader inside the walls of Egypt's NGOs, the book illuminates local activists' perspectives on democracy in Egypt and reveals how savvy organizations promoted it as they navigated rapidly evolving opportunities and constraints in the years following the uprisings. Departing from US democracy brokers' heavy-handed attempts reform national political institutions, local organizations worked with grassroots communities to build a culture of democracy through public discussion and debate, free expression, and rights claiming. By weaving this democracy building work into public-facing economic development projects, Egypt's NGOs managed to persevere through years of government crackdowns on civil society. Taking lessons learned from the Egyptian case, Delta Democracy advances our scholarly understanding of how civil society organizations maneuver state repression to combat political authoritarianism. It also offers a concrete set of recommendations on how US policy makers can restructure foreign aid to better connect with global contemporary civic revolutions for democracy"--

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