Amy Hawthorne
Senior Fellow, Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East
Atlantic Council
Shibley Telhami
Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development
University of Maryland, College Park
Moderated by
Michele Dunne
Senior Associate
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Since the January 2011 uprising, the Obama administration has struggled to balance long-standing security interests in Egypt with a stated desire to support Egyptians' aspirations for democratic institutions and governance. Now, with repression mounting and the military-security alliance that ousted formed president Mohamed Morsi in July consolidating power, Egypt has entered a new phase of democratic reversal. In this context, some argue that the United States should downgrade or even abandon democracy support as a policy goal and focus on core security interests.
In a new Atlantic Council issue brief, "Getting Democracy Promotion Right in Egypt," Senior Fellow Amy Hawthorne contends that a successful democratization process in Egypt is critical to US interests and that there is much more the United States can and should do to positively influence outcomes over the long run, even in the context of maintaining the core aspects of the strategic bilateral relationship. Ms. Hawthorne will present her analysis and Dr. Shibley Telhami will respond and offer an alternative perspective.
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