The Troubled Triangle: Populism and Civil Society in the Arab World

Saad Eddin Ibrahim, the renowned Egyptian sociologist, is one of the scholars who has focused his studies on social developments in the Arab Middle East. In the present article, referring to the concept of ‘civil society’ and its connection with such concepts as democracy, he reveals the impact of the universal trend of democratization on the relationship between the state and society in the Arab World. In his viewpoint, in the 1980s and 1990s, a trilateral struggle has been under way among the ruling regimes, Islamist movements and institutions of civil society to gain and preserve power, and a bilateral coalition has occasionally emerged against the third actor. He refers to the
instances of Palestine, Algeria and Egypt; he considers the first as an example of ‘Islamist Fear of Democracy’ and regards the second as an instance of ‘State Fear of Democracy.’ Egyptian situation in his view, is more complicated and calls it resident triangle. Despite the fact that the article has been authored some time ago, and the Arab Middle East has seen enormous changes since then, the article’s academic achievements seem to remain learning and considerable.