Völkel, Dr. Jan Claudius

This introduction leads into the Special Issue “Parliaments in the Middle East and North Africa: A Struggle for Relevance.” Parliaments in the Arab world have hardly been considered to be relevant institutions during the decades of authoritarianism in the post-independence era. If at all, they were of importance as a strategic element in the power-saving strategies of regimes.

The struggle of Arab parliaments to assert their place as strong and relevant legislative institutions in the context of the post-2011 developments, independent from exorbitant interference on the part of the executive, may appear to mirror the labors of Sisyphus, the doomed man from Greek mythology who repeatedly pushed his rock up a hill for eternity. The articles in this special issue have examined, and in so doing elucidated, the nature of the struggles faced by parliaments in the Arab world with particular attention towards Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia.

While Egypt’s government institutions are formally independent, they in fact operate under the directives of the “deep state.” The Egyptian Armed Forces (EAF) in particular intervene in the country’s governance whenever generals deem it necessary. This chapter understands the EAF as the “invisible hand” behind the country’s central institutions, using them as “fingers” to steer daily politics.

This article is part of the Special Issue “Parliaments in the Middle East and North Africa: A Struggle for Relevance.” Tunisia’s parliament has undergone a remarkable internal transformation process since 2011, from a formerly mostly irrelevant institution to an influential locus of policy-making. This successful progress notwithstanding, the parliament’s transformation to a democratic assembly has not been fully concluded yet.

In the Euro-Mediterranean region, several international parliamentary initiatives are engaged in parliamentary diplomacy and cooperation. Besides the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean (PA-UfM) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM) cross the shores. In addition, a number of national European parliaments, as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations, cooperate with Arab parliaments in a bilateral manner.

Parliaments in the Arab world have hardly been considered as relevant institutions during the decades of authoritarianism in the post-independence era. If at all, they were of importance as strategic element in the regime’s power-saving strategies.

This comprehensive Handbook analyses the political parties and party systems across the Middle East and North Africa. Providing an in-depth, empirically grounded and novel study of political parties, the volume focuses on a region where they have been traditionally and often erroneously dismissed.

Die ägyptische Regierung geht hart gegen Oppositionelle und Kritiker vor. Auf anhaltende Terroranschläge auf der Sinai-Halbinsel und in Kairo reagiert sie vor allem militärisch. Die wirtschaftliche Misere, einer der Hauptgründe für die Konfliktanfälligkeit des Landes, verschärft sich durch die Covid-19-Pandemie weiter.

Seit dem Amtsantritt von Premierminister Abiy Ahmed Ali leidet Äthiopien am "Fluch der Transformation". Angesichts seines mutigen Reformkurses fürchten die alten Eliten um ihre Pfründe und lassen ethno-nationalistische Konflikte im Vielvölkerstaat eskalieren. Eine Heuschreckenplage und Covid-19 wirken als Konfliktbeschleuniger.

After decades of irrelevance, the 2011 regime changes in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia stimulated hope that political parties would eventually strengthen their importance across North Africa, as in the projected future democracies the varieties of opinions across the citizenries were expected to be needed represented better in the political processes. Local as well as international organisations engaged in tailormade programmes for the setup and support of democratic and inclusive political parties.

Introduction to Themed Section: Based on analyses of the migration policies of Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco, the overall idea behind this themed issue is to present a comparative study of responses by Arab Mediterranean states to EU foreign and security policy incentives.

This article adds the case of Egypt to the themed section’s overall research interest, examining the extent to which the Egyptian government has reacted in its migration policies to incentives provided by the EU. It shows that Egypt’s 2016 ‘Anti-Smuggling Law’ (ASL), praised as a ‘milestone’, was crucial for the regime’s further power consolidation. Building on Tsourapas’s concept of ‘migration interdependence’, Egypt’s migration policy rather fulfils the purpose as ‘dramaturgical act’, aimed more at pleasing an international audience than improving migrants’ living conditions.