“Parallel Institutions in Egypt’s Civil Society”

Informal institutions are pervasive in Egypt today. They can be found in politics, culture, civil society, and the media. They include labor groups, human rights groups, and other organizations. They also exist in the private sector. All these informal arrangements have formed their own institutional structures parallel to Egypt’s formal institutions. But why do such informal institutions exist in Egypt – and so many other countries – even though formal institutions with the same purpose are in place?

In this Feature Service article, Abdul Ghafar Shokr, deputy director for the Arab and African Research Center in Egypt, seeks the answer to this question by taking a broader look at Egypt’s political and economic system. “The existence of parallel institutions is a result of a formal legal structure that fails to match the citizens’ capacity to organize,” he says. “Whenever the law makes it difficult to create official associations – whether in politics, civil society, business, or any other field – informal institutions emerge to meet social needs.”

Shokr discusses examples of such parallel informal institutions in labor, professional syndicates, and political parties. He concludes that only a more open political and economic system can ensure that civil society groups in Egypt will have no need to create informal institutions because they will be free to express their ideas and pursue their missions through legal channels.

Article at a Glance

  • Parallel informal institutions pervade almost every sector of the Egyptian civil society. They reflect a lack of freedom of expression and association.
  • Many civil society organizations find it impossible to carry out their missions in a legal way. This diminishes Egypt’s democratic development potential.
  • Institutional reforms are needed to formalize parallel civil society organizations.

Published Date: February 18, 2009