ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship between authoritarian or semi-authoritarian regimes and human rights organizations during the attempts of transition to democracy. This research focus on studying Egyptian human rights organizations (HROs) and their relation to the successive political administrations that came to power after the 2011 uprising. There is a growing body of literature that currently examines the phenomenon of reduced spaces for democracy and human rights support. The major part of this literature investigates the strategies adopted by international organizations and donor agencies, whereas less attention is directed towards the local actors’ responses and their adaptation strategies, which this chapter addresses. The key research question that informs this chapter is: how have HROs navigated the political configurations of power in Egypt (2011–2017)? It is argued here that the resurgence of the authoritarian practices by post-Mubarak rulers has forced Egyptian HROs to rethink their tactics and move towards strategies that are more resilient in order to be able to withstand the shrinking of the civil society space in Egypt.
