2800-2900 BC Pyramids and sphinx constructed

31 BC Cleopatra kills herself

1869 Suez Canal opens

1922 Egyptian independence from Britain

1948 war over Israeli independence

1954 Nasser assumes power in Egypt

1956 War with Britain, France and Israel over Suez

1958-61 With Syria, Egypt forms United Arab Republic

1967 Six Day War

1970 Nasser dies, Sadat becomes president

1973 Yom Kippur war

1978 Sadat signs Camp David accords

1981 Sadat assassinated; Mubarak becomes President

During the 1800s Egypt was the subject of competition between the Ottomans and European empires.

British occupied Egypt from the 1880s until the 1920s, but retained considerable influence even after this time.

After 1922 control was by a monarch with a legislature.

1952 coup led by Nasser was a reaction against the continuing British influence through the monarch and the legislature.

The Egyptian system concentrates authority in the President, although there are practical limits on his power.

Presidents are elected for 6 year terms.

The President appoints the Prime Minister, who is responsible to both the President and the Legislature.

The President can issue decrees without legislative assent under certain conditions

The Bureaucracy is based on regularized civil service system but is loyal to the President.

The legislature is bicameral: Consultative Council with 210 members; People’s Assembly with 450 members. Constitution has quotas setting representation by peasants and workers.

Judiciary has acted as the most prominent restraint on executive actions. Judiciary is less effective at protecting individual rights.

The central government effectively controls most local governments through party mechanisms, patronage, delivery of services, and manipulation of the electoral and appointive processes.

Appears to be multiparty; while the government permits some opposition, the preponderance of government power limits the role of opposition parties within the system. Parties:

• NDP: Ruling party—government officials, businessmen, rural elite.
• New Wafd—re-establishment of the dominant party under the monarchy. Frequently described as out-of-touch with salient modern issues.
• Labor Party—Established in 1978, strong nationalist, allied with Islamists after 1987.
• Liberal Party—Also part of the alliance with Islamists, but weak.
• Tagammu—Leftist opposition, currently the most sympathetic and cooperative with NDP.

Electoral laws prevent religious-based parties and therefore the Muslim Brotherhood cannot compete as a party. After 1987 it established an alliance with Labor, Wafd and Liberal.

NDP has control both nationally and locally through using advantages of government (transportation, resources, etc.), use of government media, and manipulation of election system.

Participation is constrained.

Government demobilizes potential opponents that it cannot co-opt.

Recruitment is through appointment.

(Student Presentation)

Government has extensive regulatory powers.

Provides impressive level of social services and education, although results are not as impressive as inputs.

Political Culture limits government attempts to equalize the status of women.

Environmental laws illustrate the ability of various groups to influence the policy process even within a relatively closed political system.

Foreign policy illustrates the fact that the President is not forced to make such policy with the consultation of other elements within the government; hence considerable distrust of policy toward Israel and Iraq initiated by the President.