Party Pluralism and Political Participation in Egypt 1976-2007

Summary

The emergence of political parties in Egypt came as an expression of certain social, economic and intellectual interactions during that period which also saw emergence and development of modern governance institutions in Egypt. These parties started in the form of social and political societies, although some of them were called “parties”. However, the first real party that had got the required characteristics of the political party in the modern sense was the “National Party” that was founded by the national leader Mustafa Kamel in 1907 AD. Then, a group of political parties followed the “National Party”, and during less than ten years there was a great diversity in nature of these parties, in terms of composition, organizational strength, popular grassroots, and political orientations. In this context, this study attempts to show indicators, manifestations, and problems of multi-party politics in Egypt between 1976 and 2007.