Judges and Political Reform in Egypt

Judges and Political Reform in Egypt
Author: Nathalie Bernard-Maugiron
Publisher: American Univ in Cairo Press
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2008
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9789774162015

If justice in the Arab world is often marked by a lack of autonomy of the judiciary toward the executive power, one of the characteristic features of the Egyptian judiciary lies in its strength and activism in the defense of democratic values. Judges have been struggling for years to enhance their independence from the executive power and exercise full supervision of the electoral process to achieve transparent elections. Recent years have seen growing tensions in Egypt between the judiciary and the executive authority. In order to gain concessions, judges went as far as to threaten to boycott the supervision of the presidential and legislative elections in the fall of 2005 and to organize sit-ins in the streets. The struggle between the two powers was in full swing in the spring of 2006, when a conference convened in Cairo in early April on the theme of the role of judges in the process of political reform in Egypt and the Arab world. The conference was organized by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) in cooperation with the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD). This book is a collection of papers from the conference dealing with Egypt. They allow a better understanding of the role judges are playing in the process of democratic reform in Egypt as well as the limits of their struggle. Contributors: Nabil Abd al-Fattah, Ahmad Abd al-Hafiz, Maher Abu al-Einein, Hafez Abu Saada, Hisham Al-Bastawisi, Nathalie Bernard-Maugiron, Negad Al-Bora'i, Nathan Brown, Nathan, Mustapha Kamel al-Sayyed, Abdallah Khalil, Mahmud Al-Khudayri, Mahmud, Isabelle Lendrevie, Tamir Moustafa, Mohamed Al-Sayed Said, Atef Shahat Said, Younis Sherif

Form of Reform

Form of Reform
Author: Shams Al DIn Ahmed Al Hajjaji
Publisher:
Total Pages: 169
Release: 2016
Genre:
ISBN:

The reform is an ongoing process in any society. It is the sign of the development in different areas. It is not only the technology that is rapidly changing societies, but it also changes the societies, which use these technologies. With the rapid change in the structure of social and economical changes in the world, the question of the reform of social and economical institutions is also rapidly demanding. These institutions are varied. There are private and public institutions. Within the public sphere, the judicial system is comes on the top of institutions that require continuous reform than the two other braches of the government. They are facing the development with their political agenda that change every term (whether five or four years in office). On the other hand, it is hard to find a judicial system develop as fast as the development of the legal system or its politics. In Egypt, the judiciary did not witness any serious reform since 1949. During this period until the present day, the country witnesses several social and economical developments. Monarchy system, Socialist system, social-democratic system, capitalist system and Islamic system are political and social systems apply in Egypt in the last sixty years. In the past two decades, there was a great call and debate about the necessity of a new reform of the judiciary to face the rapid social and economical change in the country. This reform takes only one shape, which serves the economic development and the foreign investment. On the other hand, the social reform was a secondary. After the 25th of January Revolution, the debates about reform reaches its uttermost. The main argument was whether to reform or to maintain the current form of the judiciary. In case of maintaining the call for a reform, what are the issues that need to be reformed and what is the other that cannot be reformed. However, after the Military Coup of 3 July 2013, the debate settles down with maintaining the status quo of the current form of the judiciary. This dissertation argues that the reform shall take place in Egypt. The current status of the judiciary is not the best for any political, social and economical development. The dissertation is divided into six chapters, and introduction and conclusion. The first chapter is a historical background of the judicial development since 1949, which is the end date of the mixed courts in Egypt. The second chapter tackles the question of why is it important to have a reform. This chapter introduces political, economical, and social reasons to introduce a reform to the judicial institution. The last four chapters deal with four of the contemporary issues. These issues are judicial independence, judicial accountability, judicial appointment and judicial unification. Each chapter introduces the current status of the certain issues and the pending problems that need to be reformed. It, then, presents the solution to these issues in five countries, which are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Russian Federation. After presenting each of these jurisdictions, each chapter offers an assessment to each solution offered from these different jurisdictions. Finally, each chapter offers a certain form of reform and the reasons to adopt such reform.

The Rule of Law in the Arab World

The Rule of Law in the Arab World
Author: Nathan J. Brown
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2006
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780521030687

Nathan Brown's penetrating account of the development and operation of the courts in the Arab world is based on fieldwork in Egypt and the Gulf. The book addresses important questions about the nature of Egypt's judicial system and the reasons why such a system appeals to Arab rulers outside Egypt. From the theoretical perspective, it also contributes to the debates about liberal legality, political change and the relationship between law and society in the developing world. It will be widely read by scholars of the Middle East, students of law and colonial historians.

Judges and Generals in the Making of Modern Egypt

Judges and Generals in the Making of Modern Egypt
Author: Mahmoud Hamad
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2018-10-25
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1108644562

Why do authoritarian regimes survive? How do dictators fail? What role do political institutions play in these two processes? Many of the answers to these questions can be traced to the same source: the interaction between institutions and preferences. Using Egypt as a case study, Professor Mahmoud Hamad describes how the synergy between judges and generals created the environment for the present government and a delicate balance for its survival. The history of modern Egypt is one of the struggle between authoritarian governments, and forces that advocate for more democratic rights. While the military has provided dictatorial leaders, the judiciary provides judges who have the power to either support or stymie authoritarian power. Judges and Generals in the Making of Modern Egypt provides a historically grounded explanation for the rise and demise of authoritarianism, and is one of the first studies of Egypt's judicial institutions within a single analytical framework.

Egypt After Mubarak

Egypt After Mubarak
Author: Bruce K. Rutherford
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 343
Release: 2013-02-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0691158045

"Egypt after Mubarak demonstrates that both secular and Islamist opponents of the regime are navigating a middle path that may result in a uniquely Islamic form of liberalism and, perhaps, democracy." "Essential reading on a subject of global importance, Egypt after Mubarak draws upon in-depth interviews with Egyptian judges, lawyers, Islamic activists, politicians, and businesspeople. It also utilizes major court rulings, political documents of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the writings of Egypt's leading contemporary Islamic thinkers."--BOOK JACKET.