Egypt: Democratic transformation?
We ask if el-Baradei can transform the country into a genuine democracy or if he risks plunging it into instability.
When he returned to Egypt in February after serving as chief of the UN’s nuclear energy agency, Mohamed el-Baradei, a former Egyptian diplomat, was given a hero’s welcome.
His call for true democracy has won him widespread support. With the help of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, he has gathered around 800,000 signatures in a campaign for constitutional reform.
But now el-Baradei has gone a step further – demanding a boycott of the parliamentary election in November, saying it is certain to be rigged.
Can the former diplomat transform Egypt into a genuine democracy, or does he risk plunging it into instability? And is Egypt about to enter a new phase in its democratic transformation?
Joining the programme are Gamal Abdel Gawad, the director of the Al-Ahram Centre for Strategic Studies, Jason Brownlee, an associate professor in the department of government at the University of Texas, and Mustapha Kamel el-Sayed, a professor of political science at the American University in Cairo.
This episode of Inside Story aired from Wednesday, September 8, 2010.