The International Dimensions of Democratization in Egypt

Book excerpt: This book purports to examine the international dimensions of the democratization process in Egypt in the post Cold War era; a theme which acquired significance at the academic and policy-oriented levels in light of the growing internationalization of reform arrangements in the Arab world in post 9/11 and the greater involvement of external powers in Arab politics following the Arab Spring uprisings. During the second half of the twentieth century, the mainstream scholarship presented the democratization process as the outcome of domestic conditions not significantly influenced by actors outside the nation-state. With the end of the Cold War, this perspective was challenged as a result of the third wave of democratization and the subsequent growth of the “good governance” discourse on the agenda of the international development establishment. The new perspective attached a more significant role to external factors in the democratization process than was originally conceptualized.