Arab Republic of Egypt
Briefing Paper 27, March 2012
Systems of Government: Semi-Presidential Models
This paper examines the Semi-Presidential System of Government, its components, distribution of powers and functioning, and provides an overview of pros and cons for its adoption.
Briefing Paper 27, March 2012 (PDF, 123 kB)
Arabic (PDF, 334 kB)
Briefing Paper 25, February 2012
Egypt’s Transition:
Prospects for Constitutional Reforms
This briefing paper examines the different constitutional scenarios, currently under discussion in Egypt. It argues that while there are understandable reasons for a “quick-fix” constitutional reform, such a “quick-fix” would be a missed opportunity for deep reforms. In line with this argument, it indicates options on how to combine a quick reform process to prepare for presidential elections with more long-term constitutional reforms.
English (PDF, 281 kB)
Arabic (PDF, 439 kB)
Briefing Paper 20/Egypt, February 2012
Lessons Learned from Constitution-Making:
Processes with Broad Based Public Participation
This paper provides an overview of lessons learned from past constitution-making processes with civil society participation and includes recommendations to the Constituent Assembly, civil society organisations and the media in Egypt.
English (PDF, 433 kB)
Arabic (PDF, 527 kB)
Amended laws Arab Republic of Egypt, 28 December 2011
Law on the People’s Assembly (November 2011)
Law Concerning the Formation of the Shura Council and its Amendments (February 2012)
Law on the Exercise of Political Rights (February 2012)
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Briefing Paper 19, November 2011
Promoting Consensus:
Constitution-Making in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya
The paper argues that the three most progressed transitions – in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya – suffer from a lack of attention to different forms of majority decision-making. It appears that most policymakers in the region equate democracy with simple majority rule, while in constitution-making supermajorities are regularly employed.
English (PDF, 486 kB)
Briefing Paper 18, November 2011
Egypt’s Elections:
Greater Transparency to Strengthen Confidence
Briefing Paper 18 called on Egypt’s election commission to increase the level of transparency of the elections, by providing more information on its policies and by consulting more before making decisions. Transparency increases trust and public acceptance of an election.
English (PDF, 378 kB)
Arabic (PDF, 848 kB)
Report, 28 October 2011
Democracy Delayed: Obstacles in Political Transition
This collection of articles, compiled by Democracy
Reporting International (DRI) and Prague-based Institute for
European Policy EUROPEUM, presents case studies which recall the difficulties, pitfalls and political missteps which jeopardised democratic transitions in several countries and even caused some of them to fail. It complements a report issued earlier in 2011 by DRI and the Portuguese Institute for International Relations which examined ‘successful’ transitions to democracy in Europe from the 1970s until 1991.
English (PDF, 502 kB)
Arabic (PDF, 1 MB)
Report, 27 October 2011
International Consensus: Essential Elements of Democracy
Democracy is not an anything goes form of government. Various internationally agreed documents include an outline of the core components of what democracy means. A range of them are ‘hard’ legally binding international law. Others may be considered soft law. While these documents do not give an exhaustive definition of democracy, they include basic key elements, each of which is a necessary condition for a democratic form of governance.
English (PDF, 145 kB)
Français (PDF, 424 kB)
Arabic (PDF, 624 kB)
Report Part II, August 2011
Comprehensive Assessment of Egypt’s Electoral Framework Part II
This report supplements DRI's Comprehensive Assessment of the Electoral Framework issued in July. It analyses amendments to three laws adopted in late July, notably some possible consequences of Egypt's new election system. The report shows that while some progress has been made to addresslong-standing flaws in Egypt’s electoral framework, there are still many issues to be resolved.
English (PDF, 486 kB)
Briefing Paper 14, 11 July 2011
The Road to Elections in Egypt: Electoral Reforms since February 2011
This briefing paper examines progress made in reforming the political-electoral legal system in Egypt following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak on 12 February 2011.
English (PDF, 240 kB)
Report, 11 July 2011
Comprehensive Assessment of Egypt’s Electoral Framework
This report complements the briefing paper by providing a detailed examination of the technical aspects of the electoral law reforms that have taken place in Egypt since February 2011. The report shows that some progress has been made to address long-standing flaws in Egypt’s electoral framework, but also points out that there are still many issues to be resolved, including a number of provisions that are ambiguous and in need of clarification.
English (PDF, 408 kB)
Workshop Report Religion-State Relations in New Egypt
Report on the Workshop on State-Religion Relations in New Egypt, June 2011
English (PDF, 530 kB)
Report, April 2011
Paths to Democracy in Europe
1974-1991: An Overview
With developments in Egypt and Tunisia rekindling the interest in how democratic transitions work, this reports highlights the sequences of past transitions in nine European countries.
English (PDF, 483 kB)
Arabic (PDF, 543 kB)
DRI in the New York Times, 18 February 2011
Which Electoral System for Egypt?
The choice of an electoral system in Egypt is crucial to give new parties a chance in the upcoming elections, argues DRI's author in the New York Times' debate on Egyptian elections.
View article
Briefing Paper 7, November 2010
Egyptian Elections: Paving the Way
for Presidential Succession
English (PDF, 238 kB)
