Non-Governmental Organizations in Egypt and Their Participation in Resistance: a Comparison between the Middle Class and the Underclass

Abstract

The number of non-governmental organizations in Egypt continued to grow before 2011. The middle class became the main participants in the political movement against Mubarak regime in 2011. However, it could not be attributed to the mobilization by non-governmental organizations. Based on regression analysis results of the questionnaire survey conducted by Arab Barometer in 2011, NGOs’ mobilization of their middle-class members was almost ineffective. As for the underclass, only the charitable organizations had a strong mobilization effect. From the two aspects of consensus mobilization and action mobilization, the paper explains the reasons why non-governmental organizations failed to mobilize their middle-class members and the specific mechanism for charitable organizations to mobilize their underclass members. Egypt’s experience shows that NGOs do not necessarily act as the main driving force of political resistance, which depends on NGOs’ capability of mobilizing their members for consensus and action, and for different social classes, the mobilization effects show great differences.