In Egypt after Mubarak, there is a greater space for civil society groups to work and fulfil their mission. However, after the ousting of President Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood regime, the government has passed or proposed laws that appear to target “terrorism” or “national security,” but in reality restrict freedom of expression and association.

In this lecture Professor Hassan suggests several concrete steps that could be taken to advance the efficiency and impact of civil society in Egypt after Mubarak: Firstly, new laws should be issued in order to achieve balance between government oversight and freedom of association by focusing on the following two areas: Identifying the limitations of the legal framework governing civil society. And, amending or abolishing existing laws and introducing new laws in order to ensure that they are compliant with international standards and treaties to which Egypt is a signatory. Secondly, Egypt needs to develop a new media discourse to emphasize the importance of civic engagement in the process of democratic transformation and to eliminate the negative image of civil society inherited from the former regime. There is a need to break down the negative stereotypical images of civil society, such as those that describe the Islamic charity work and its institutions of violence and terrorism. Third, training and capacity building is one of the most important approaches to develop civil society institutions in Egypt. Universities and research centers should provide technical assistance and support to individual Egyptian civic organizations to advocate for citizens’ interests and take subsequent action. Finally, one of the main weaknesses in Egyptian civil society is the lack of financial resources. Philanthropic waqf can easily solve this problem if the existing laws are reformed to increase their effectiveness and new laws are developed to regulate the relationship between waqf philanthropy and civil society organizations.

Hamdy Hassan is a Professor of Political Science at Cairo University currently based at the Institute for Islamic World Studies at Zayed University in Dubai. Professor Hassan is also a member of the advisory board of the Swedish Network of Peace, Conflict and Development Research, and the founder and director of the Center for African Future Studies, Cairo, since 1996. His research focuses on dynamic Islamic discourses in Africa and the Arab world, as well as democratic transition and development in African and Arab societies. He has published widely in Arabic and English, including his recent book Islamic Discourses in Africa (2013).

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Professor Hassan is a visiting professor sponsored by the Council for Australia-Arab Relations (CAAR) in association with the Middle East Studies Forum (MESF) at Deakin University.