AbstractsPolitical Science

The populous yet unprecedented uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region toppled authoritarian regimes in countries such as Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen thus projecting the region in current academic discourses. The uprising which had economic underpinnings from the beginning expanded to be dominated by liberal-democratic demands which the region so lacked. This research analyses the extent to which these liberal democratic demands have materialised especially, in Egypt based on the hypothesis that, the events which led to the toppling of Hosni Mubarak‘s thirty years regime have engendered liberal democracy in Egypt. Employing qualitative method for data analysis, the research gives an overview of the political uprising in the MENA region, and how liberal democratic demands served as an impetus for the uprising in Egypt as the case study of the research. Also the political contestations and its dynamics are examined serving as the basis to analyse the extent to which liberal democracy has been engendered in Egypt. The findings of this research however, reveals that Egypt is experiencing a difficult transition characterised by elections and constitutional reforms which qualifies for a participatory democracy rather than a liberal democratic state. This study thus proposes a holistic approach towards the attainment of liberal democratic through the restructuring of Egypt‘s political system which is centralised on its executive body, empowering non-state actors who can influence the political agenda of government, designing constitution which represent the will of the people and adopting a multi-cultural approach to human right values and norms among others. Advisors/Committee Members: Gebe, B. O (advisor).