ABSTRACT
This chapter maps out the oppositional landscape in Egypt, focusing specifically on the role of opposition parties and social movements in advancing political liberalization and/or democratization in Egypt. This section details the principal internal and external constraints that have limited the effectiveness of these organizations and indicates that the weakness of these organizations is not only a product of the legal and institutional constraints imposed by the regime but is also a product of the internal divisions that have plagued many of these organizations. The findings of this section reveal not only how the Egyptian opposition is divided along Islamist and secularist lines, but that within each camp divisions around organizational, generational, and ideological issues abound. This is particularly the case with regards to the secular opposition, which has in recent years experienced significant fragmentation. The secular opposition is divided ideologically among liberals and leftists (Marxists, Socialists, Nasserists, and Nationalists) and organizationally among political parties, NGOs, and informal movements. And though these groups avowedly share some of the same priorities and objectives, particularly regarding the primacy of democratic reforms, the relationships between them have more often than not been characterized by competition and mutual distrust rather than cooperation.
