Enough!: Egypt's Quest for Democracy

In 2004-2005, for the first time in more than five decades, Egypt witnessed the rise of a protest movement calling for the end of one-party rule. In 1 year, Egypt witnessed more oppositional demonstrations, rallies, and the organization of nonviolent dissident groups than it has seen in the previous 25 years. However, the outcome of this mobilization in terms of democratic opening remained limited and, some argue, negligible. Using social movement theory, which has been unduly ignored by students of democratic transition in the Middle East, and data from fieldwork, the article analyzes the rise, limitations, and potentials of this prodemocracy movement in Egypt. The article argues that changes in the political opportunity structure and relatively successful cultural framing and mobilizing structures pushed for the rise of this movement, but shortcomings on these same fronts limited the movement's expansion and concomitantly, its direct impact.

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