Egyptian Civil Society Threshold of New Millennium

By Dr. Amany Qandil
Recently, the Egyptian national sector has been witnessing an augmenting growth due to several considerations. Their reference is attributed to a group of concepts and modern thoughts.

Among them is the non-stop dialogue about the role of the state and reviewing the philosophical and political ethics that formed a heritage for the political and philosophical schools. Thus, emerged the so called, Third sector.

The national sector in Egypt consists of a comprehensive map for non-governemntal organizations (NGOs), relying on an extended volunteer work history and is organised by an extended legal history as well. Currently, the significance of this sector is further augmented after the change that took place in the state's political and economic philosophy.

This sector has become one of the principal tools necessary for supporting the formulation of the civil society (CS). This book is preoccupied by the CS and by following-up its evolution in the past century. That is why Chapter I focuses on the Egyptian CS (ECS) and its evolution along this period.

Chapter II comes as a closer zoom-in to discuss the answer to the question: how far has the ECS developed. Here, the interest is in the historic period betwixt the declaration of political plurality (1976) and the beginning of 2000.

Moreover, this chapter not only discusses development in the CS's infrastructure, but also the extent of civil culture evolution via introducing patterns of CS practices uncovered in the prior period. Moving to Chapter III, there is the discussion of the extent of evolution in the national sector studies; the sector includes NGOs in Egypt and the Arab world.

As for Chapter IV, it discusses the role of NGOs in development, introducing western and Arab theories that pursued analysing and explaining this developmental role under international and regional changes, which propelled NGOs into the core of development.

Chapter V is interested in evaluating NGOs, while Chapter VI analyses the concept of "networks" that widely prevailed over the last decade of the twentieth century. It also reflects the globalization of CS.

Chapter VII delves deeply into multi-national NGOs, which number rose to 15,000,000 international organisations. Chapter VIII discusses the concept of constructing NGOs potentials with an introduction of critical visions of the practices of this concept such as what has happened in Egypt. The chapter suggests a comprehensive strategy for constructing CS potentials. Finally, Chapter IX discusses reflections of globalization on CS.

The book, with its nine chapters, opens the gate wide for researchers to see into the essence of CS practices and evaluate them upon critical visions. These visions permit the CS foundations to evolve, especially on the civil culture level. This includes democratic practices and administering foundation, transparency and accountability differences.

As we are on the thresholds of the twenty-first century, this dimension stands more significant as the importance of this CS grows higher, giving hope for entrenching democratic transformation and activating participation.

What is Civil Society? It is a group of free volunteer organisations that fill the extension between the family and the state to achieve the interests of its individuals, abiding by values and criteria of respect, agreement tolerance and peaceful management of diversity and difference.

Several definitions may explain CS. All of them, however, are within the framework of principal pillars which are:

1- Free Will or Volunteer Action: It is different from that of relative groups, such as the family and the clan, where the individual has no choice in being a member of relative groups. It is a fact imposed by birth or inheritance.

2- CS as an Organised Society: In this way, it is generally different form the society as a whole. The first gathers and creates a pattern of organisations or foundations that function methodologically.

This is by being subject to logical criteria, where the members, individuals and groups, voluntarily accept certain stipulated terms and conditions.

3- Conduct: It enfolds the acceptance of difference and diversity between the self and the others. In addition, it enfolds the others, rights of forming civil organisations that achieve, protect, and defend their materialistic and spiritual interests.

These organisations, also, are committed to management of peaceful differences within and betwixt CS foundations, and the state under the values of respect, tolerance, cooperation, competition and peaceful conflict.

ECS a Hundred Years Ago: The emergence of CS in the west countries was linked to the emergence of the modern state and its evolution.

This state was established on the basis of setting the right of citizenship, citizen's legal equity, and legitimacy of rule.

The question thus remains; does the Egyptian society have that immense historic stock accumulated over a long term as the case in the west countries? Has it formulated traditions for practicing democracy and set the basis of a developed civil culture?

The fruit of ECS first blossomed in the 19th century. The national objectives were represented in the Constitution, independence and national struggle, which formulate points of departure of the CS movement and reflect on its activities.


Then, came a stage of stoppage in 1952-1970 through the hegemony of the mono-political system. However, the political experience resulting from the political plurality and Open-door Policy in 1970s began to reflect on CS.

Political and economic changes were accomplished by social changes that have been reflected on the social map of the Egyptian society. Most significant is the wide gap in wealth distribution and the increasing rate of poverty, in addition to other international changes.

Some of such changes are economic (transformation into international capitalism), while some others are technological (the immense development in communication in particulrar). These world changes together had clear effects on CS foundations.

All the prevoius world changes affected the dynamics of ECS over the past decades. This was extended to the structure of CS, civil culture, and social and economic formulas that were activated in the civil foundations and the rising political powers.

CS Evolution: The CS evolution according to the afore-mentioned facts can be achieved under the following:

1- Provision of infrastructure that forms CS (components of civil society or voluntary organisations).
2- A code of ethics and traditions that rely on acceptance of the other and the diversity, tolerance, mutual consent and peaceful management of differences. This is what we call civil culture.
3- A suitable atmosphere that provides basic needs and most important is an acceptable legal reference for the CS and the state as well.

* CS Foundations in Egypt:

I: Syndicates: The number of syndicates in Egypt, till 1992, reached about forty two.

Ten of these were established during the Egyptian adoption of political plurality over the last two decades and according to the available data. The membership estimates at five million members whose distribution differs from one syndicate to another.

However, the political role played by some syndicates, from political dynamics perspective and interactions witnessed by those syndicates, calls for attention. In this context, the highlight is on these syndicates stepping beyond their traditional roles represented in the protection and development of the profession in addition to expressing the members' demands towards new roles.

Such new roles seek to grant the members some say in national and foreign political issues, in pursuance of affecting the political process.

II: NGOs: In 1976, the number of registered NGOs reached 7,593. According to Law no. 32 of 1964, the number of NGOs rose to 14,000, while in 1999, it rose to 16,000. Most of these (74.5 %) work in social care represented in social aid, caring for special brackets, the handicapped, family care, childhood and motherhood.

As regards the rest of NGOs (25.5%), their activities are in local development. The declared official number of association members is three million. NGOs responded to some negative social phenomena the Egyptian society has witnessed lately. Furthermore, they practiced pressure to put these phenomena on the government's agenda, and among which are the issues of homeless children and child labour.

III: Trade Unions: They include about 3.350 million workers of the total number of workers in Egypt (13 million). In this concern, and according to international agreements, membership is optional.

Consequently, they are distributed among 23 trade unions included in the General Trade Union. Thus, they partially express the interests of only one category of workers, rather than workers or the worker movement at large.

IV: Political Parties: In 2003, the number of political parties reached 17, some of which gained legitimacy upon the consent of the parties committee, while the rest gained it by judicial rulings during the reign of President Mubarak.

V: Businessmen Groups: They reflect new activities and fields for civil foundations linked to the economic policy adopted by the state in 1974 and known as the Open-door Policy. The first fruit was the Egyptian- American Council in 1975.

It goes without saying that these groups voice the upper class of businessmen, and finance and economy-men.

VI: Commercial and Industrial Chambers: They comprise about three million members and reflect interests of the wide-range base of businessmen, especially those from the middle-class. In this case, membership is obligatory and a pre-requisite for practicing the profession.


However, the chambers social and economic construction is heterogeneous.

VII: Rights Advocating Organisations: They principally mean human rights organisations that have increased in number since 1980s till now to reach 23 organisations.

* CS between Democracy and Civil Culture: The basic pillars that should be provided in CS, especially the behavioural code of ethics that enfolds acceptance of difference and diversity between the self and others form the essence of democracy.

A CS can never be constructed without the provision of a peaceful formula for the management of differences, competition and conflicts with regard to the accepted rules between parties.

In addition, it is impossible to construct a CS without acknowledging principal human rights, especially freedoms of belief, opinion, expression, gathering and organisation.

Thus, the real CS construction or development is considered a development of civil culture that acknowledges and respects the aforesaid values; the essence of democracy.

NGOs Role in Development: The term "NGOs" means a group of organisations that exist between the state and the market and seek entrenching interests among a group of people to realize public good.

The salient features that should characterize these organisations are as follows: To some extent, they are volunteer organisations. Thus, profits are not distributed among the members or the management, they are not profit-making.

They are autonomous organisations of a systematic official body, government-independent, non-political and non-subject to any political party.

Such a sector has been sometimes entitled as "the Third Sector", i.e; ranking third after the public and the private sectors. Other times, it has been known as the "Volunteer Sector", the "Independent Sector", the "National Sector", etc.

Undoubtedly, such NGOs play a major role in the development of developing countries. This role is represented in practicing democracy, expanding popular participation, facing state centrality, facing negative impacts of economic reform policies, dealing with the socially and economically marginalized brackets, and attracting the citizen to the core of sustainable development process.

* Globalisation and CS: Due to the various definitions of globalisation and the difficulty of reaching a comprehensive one, in the beginning, there can be a reference to three processes that unfold the essence of globalisation.

This means the diffusion of information among people, the elimination of borders among countries and the increase of similarities among groups, societies and foundations.

The core of globalisation is synonymous with the universal facilitation of movement of people, information and commodities. If globalisation under this concept bears chances for the growth and role enhancement of the civil institutions, then, they will bear cultural, political and economic dangers that cause many problems.

This would require the civil society to move in various directions and levels.

Salient of them is the following:

If globalisation bears a reformulation of poverty patterns all over the world through creating job opportunities and transferring skills, there should be a change from a mere role of service-offering into a comprehensive developmental role that achieves a quantitative transformation of life.

This means investing all what globalisation would offer to enhance democracy and respect for human rights in order to entrench the process of democratic transformation.

Thus, the defensive dimension to back up freedoms, rights, and marginalized brackets becomes fundamental in NGO activities and in facing major monopolies of capital hegemony through supporting poor woman issues and basic local initiatives, linking them as much as possible with world orientations and levels.

Moreover, it contributes to setting a world movement to set down a code of ethics that controls and observes world capital market performance, let alone, abide by issues of the homeland, contribute to political, social, economic and cultural development process. Never to mention, there must be keenness on belonging to the homeland and not to the foreign financer, added to it, is the orientation towards new forms of government.

This is to guarantee practice of democracy and achievement of the biggest share of participation on the part of NGOs in facing the society problems.

This, by turn, is related to working on enhancing the potentials of these organisations through training, research, databases and networks.