Professor Stephen Whitefield to conduct a study of the founding democratic elections in Egypt

Stephen Whitefield, Dr Mazen Hassan of Cairo University (and a doctoral student of Stephens in the Department, 2011) and Dr Elisabeth Kendall, Senior Research Fellow in Arabic, Pembroke College will conduct a national survey of Egyptian citizens immediately following the founding democratic parliamentary and presidential elections.

The survey will be supplemented by a study of the positions of parties and presidential candidates. Generous funding for the study has been provided by Mr Chris Rokkos, a London-based Hedge Fund manager and alumnus of Pembroke College with an interest in Politics and the Middle East. The project will aim to uncover the main lines of division underlying party competition and support for parties in the country, with a particular focus on the nature of support for democracy and its connection with social and religious identities. The analysis is expected to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the sources of mass support for, and possible opposition to, democratic party competition in post-revolutionary Egypt.