A Democracy With Fangs And Claws And Its Effects On Egyptian Political Culture - Statistical Data Included

Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ), Summer, 2001 by Joshua A. Stacher

Governmental interference in the administration of the opposition parties has also widened the divide between the masses and the parties. By using methods, such as financial obstacles, the government limits the parties' role in society. A telling example was given during the fourth Presidential Referendum of Hosni Mubarak in September 1999. The Nasserists' party publicly put forth a 'no' response to the choice of Mubarak. After challenging Mubarak directly, Al-Arabi, the mouthpiece of the party, was asked to pay a large amount of fees owed to the government-controlled Al-Ahram Publishing House for the publishing of the paper. [41] The opposition paper was forced, through this indirect economic pressure, to go from being a daily to a weekly. This appears to have served the purpose of limiting the influence and voice of the party for its failure to support the President. Thus, through indirect means, such as this, as well as Sadat's constraining law 40/1977 which, in effect, prevents an opposition party from e stablishing links with any widespread audience in terms of regional, religious, or working-class basis, [42] the state preserves a system of dependency with its official opposition. The effect of this type of a system on mass political culture seems detrimental. People, who may be looking for a chance to participate through formal channels, such as a legal party, can become disenchanted and frustrated while being pushed into further alienation from the state. As this process occurs, it seems that an apathetic political atmosphere becomes further reinforced and correspondingly apathetic behavior becomes institutionalized as normatively correct.

While mass political culture appears to remain at a level of stagnation, the willingness to accept authoritarianism becomes an easier choice and as a consequence, emerges as the normal and acceptable behavior. As one Egyptian journalist argues:

If you look at the opposition parties, they all complain about democracy in Egypt and demand free elections and constitutional reform but the main question is why don't they have free elections in their own parties. The dinosaurs are still running the parties. There is no real difference between an opposition party and the NDP. As for the opposition, they don't have any experience in ruling this country. Maybe the NDP is the only qualified party which has a long experience in running the policies of this country. Besides, it does not matter, if I say 'no' or 'yes' to Mubarak, it makes no difference [43]

With respect to mass political culture and opposition parties, this kind of response strongly illustrates why citizens in general may appear resigned to the status quo.

This view appears further reinforced by two opinion polls that highlight the suffocating mass political culture in contemporary Egypt. The first general public opinion poll was conducted by Al-Ahram Weekly, in January 1995. [44] It sampled the views of 1,505 men and women of different ages and educational levels. According to Al-Ahram, the respondents were chosen randomly from Cairo's two main railway stations in Ramses and Giza and guaranteed anonymity. The data concerning the domestic political issues and, specifically, the Egyptian multi-party system appears highly divided about the pluralist experiment Sadat launched in 1976. On one hand, positive answers were given when 73 percent of the respondents cited the multi-party as beneficial, while 14 percent disagreed, and the remaining 13 percent had no opinion towards the question. Yet, these responses were contradicted when respondents answered that the current multi-party system under Mubarak was considered useful by only 36 percent of the people. This wa s counterbalanced by a majority of 48 percent who replied that it was not. [45]