New book of the Center for Arab-West Understanding (CAWU)

 The 2014 Egyptian Constitution; Perspectives from Egypt is ready for print.

Pre-order before Nov 3, 2017 for the reduced price of 12 Euros per book.

Earlier this year, our book From Ruling to Opposition 2011-2013 (2017) was published by Tectum Academic Publishers. Today, we are pleased to inform you that our new book, The 2014 Egyptian Constitution; Perspectives from Egypt, will go to print before the end of the  year.  The foreword of the text is written by none other than H.E. Amr Moussa, Chairman of the Constitutional Assembly of 2013.

Tectum Publishers offers our readers the opportunity to pre-order the book for a substantial discount of only 12 Euros per copy.  Pre-orders must be placed before printing starts on November 3, 2017. AfterNovember 3, the price will increase to  29,95 Euros per copy.

As with our previous books, the work is largely based on the work of our interns and editors, who  have been supported by a large network of Egyptian experts. Most of the work for this book was carried out by our brilliant young Portugese intern Diana Serôdio, who is expected to obtain her MA in Sociology from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 2018. She interned with the Center for Arab-West Understanding in Cairo between September 2012 and April 2013, and worked with us as a researcher for this book between March and August 2014. As with all academic work, the editing of the text turned out to be extremely tedious and time consuming. At long last, the work is now complete.

We now present to you a brief synopsis of the text:

After President Hosni Mubarak was toppled in 2011, discussions followed immediately regarding the revision of the Egyptian Constitution. Islamist political groups insisted that Parliamentary and Presidential elections should precede the formation of a new Constitution, aiming to use their momentum to gain the upper hand in the Constitutional Assembly. Non-Islamists believed that representatives from all layers of society must first formulate a new Constitution before elections should be held. Out of this struggle emerged the 2012 Constitution, a document deeply influenced by Islamist political ideas and goals. Dissatisfied with the proceedings, the non-Islamists walked out of the Constitutional Assembly before the Constitution was finalized. In attempts to reconcile the alienated non-Islamist factions, and heal a divided Egyptian society, the Egyptian Constitution of 2014 was created. All efforts were made to avoid a similar walk-out from Islamist factions. Various political actors were interviewed during, and shortly after the 2014 constitutional formation process.

This book is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand the discussions and debates surrounding the formation of the 2014 Constitution.

This book follows and complements the previous books in the series on recent religious and political developments in Egypt, in particular Vol. 3 The Sharia as the Main Source of Legislation? (2012), Vol. 8 Rise and Fall of the Muslim Brotherhood 2011-2013 (2016), Vol. 9 From Ruling to Opposition 2011-2013 (2017).

Please write to us as soon as possible for the pre-order form for the book. This highly reduced price for this book is available only until November 3, 2017.

Cairo, October 26, 2017

Cornelis Hulsman,

Editor-in-Chief Arab-West Report