EU reaction, initiatives and instruments in Egypt post-2011

Bassant Hassib () and Christian Kaunert ()

Chapter 4 in EU, Egypt and Democracy Promotion, 2025, pp 77-94 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter examines EU policies and initiatives for democracy promotion in Egypt during the 2011–2013 transition period. It evaluates the EU's response to Egypt's rapidly evolving political landscape, focusing on the challenge of balancing its strategic interests – such as migration control, energy security, and regional stability – with its normative goals of democratisation and human rights. The chapter highlights the EU's mixed reactions, including hesitance to fully support political reform during the 2011 uprising and its subsequent engagement with the Muslim-Brotherhood-led government despite significant democratic backsliding. It also analyses the EU's revised European Neighbourhood Policy, emphasising “deep democracy” and civil society engagement. The discussion assesses the effectiveness of EU financial instruments, conditionality principles, and political incentives, revealing inconsistencies and limitations in their application. The findings underscore the persistent tension between the EU's democratisation agenda and its prioritisation of regional stability and security interests.

Keywords: European Neighbourhood Policy; Egypt; Conditionality; Democracy assistance; Security threats (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035350520
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035350537.00013 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:24134_5

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().