Amr Hamzawy (, ; born 1967) is an Egyptian

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

human rights activist A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...

and

public intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and Human self-reflection, reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the wor ...

Biography

Hamzawy studied political science and developmental studies in Cairo,

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

, and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. After finishing his doctoral studies and after five years of teaching in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

and

, Hamzawy joined the

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., with operations in Europe, South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East, as well as the United States. Foun ...

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

between 2005 and 2009 as a senior associate for

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

politics. Between 2009 and 2010 he was the research director of the Middle East Center of the Carnegie Endowment in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. In 2011, he joined the Department of Public Policy and Administration at the

American University in Cairo The American University in Cairo (AUC; ) is a private research university in New Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning programs at undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels, along with a continuing education program. ...

, where he worked for approximately 5 years. He was a senior research fellow at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

from 2017-2021. He is a senior fellow and the director of the

's Middle East Program, where his research and writings focus on governance in the Middle East and North Africa, social vulnerability, and the different roles of governments and civil societies in the region. His research and teaching interests as well as his academic publications focus on democratization processes in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, tensions between

freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

and repression in the Egyptian public space, political movements and civil society in Egypt, contemporary debates in Arab political thought, and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

and governance in the Arab world. Hamzawy is a former member of the People's Assembly after being elected in the first Parliamentary elections in Egypt after the

Egyptian Revolution of 2011 The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January Revolution (;), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police holiday" as a statement against ...

. He is also a former member of the Egyptian

National Council for Human Rights The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR; ) is an Egyptian human rights organization established in 2003 with a mission of promoting and maintaining human rights in Egypt. The NCHR publishes annual reports concerning the current status of huma ...

. Hamzawy contributes a daily column and a weekly op-ed to the Egyptian independent newspaper ''

Al Shorouk ''Al-Shorouk'', ''Shorouk News'' or ''Al-Shuruq'' ( "The Sunrise") is a prominent Arabic newspaper published in Egypt and several other Arabic nations. It is a daily independent liberal-oriented newspaper, covering mainly politics, militant af ...

''.

Education

Hamzawy received his bachelor's degree from

Cairo University Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...

in Egypt. After that he revived his master's degree from the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...

, and another from the

Institute of Social Studies An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations ( research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ...

in The Hague. In 2002, he received his PhD from the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...

Political activism

Hamzawy used to work in the Middle East as a research director at the

. He played an important role in the

2011 Egyptian revolution The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January Revolution (;), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police holiday" as a statement against ...

and he was the spokesman of the "Board of Wise Men" set up during the revolution to offer negotiations and possible solutions to the protesters and the government. After the installation of

Ahmed Shafik Air Marshal Ahmed Mohamed Shafik ZakiAlso spelled: ''Shafiq''. (, ; born 25 November 1941) is an Egyptian politician and former presidential candidate. He was a senior commander in the Egyptian Air Force and later served as Prime Minister of ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, Hamzawy was offered the position of Minister of Youth. He declined the post. He has since become involved in the project for the establishment of a liberal party in Egypt. Hamzawy is a founding member of Freedom Egypt Party. In 2012, Hamzawy was elected as a member of the Egyptian Parliament (constituency Heliopolis, Badr City, Shorouk, Hikestep). In 2013, he supported the campaign of the

Tamarod Tamarod (, "rebellion") was an Egyptian movement funded by the General Intelligence Service (Mukhabarat) and UAE to overthrow the 1st democratically elected Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi. The nominal aim was to register opposition to and fo ...

movement for early presidential elections in Egypt. However, in the aftermath of the

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

that followed, he spoke out against the shutdown of Islamist satellite networks and the detention of President Morsi and other Islamist leaders, and objected in a newspaper column to "the rhetoric of gloating, hatred, retribution and revenge against the Muslim Brotherhood."

Personal life

On 15 February 2012 Hamzawy married the Egyptian actress Basma Hassan at the Marriott Hotel in Cairo, and divorced in 2019.

Selected writings

*''A Margin for Democracy in Egypt - The Story of An Unsuccessful Transition'' (in Arabic)

: The Egyptian Lebanese Publishers, 2014
"On Religion, Politics, and Democratic Legitimacy in Egypt"
Carnegie Middle East Center, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (in English and Arabic), 2013 *"Remarks on Political Writing and its Role in Defending Democracy, Freedoms, and Human Rights" (in Arabic) ''Ahram: Journal of Democracy'', 2013 *''Between Religion and Politics'', co-authored with Nathan J. Brown (political scientist)(in English and Arabic) Washington, D.C. and Beirut:

, 2010, *''The Arab Future: Debates on Democracy, Political Islam, and Resistance'' (in Arabic) Beirut: Dar an-Nahar, 2010 *''Human Rights in the Arab World: Independent Voices'' (co-editor, in English) Pennsylvania:

University of Pennsylvania Press The University of Pennsylvania Press, also known as Penn Press, is a university press affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History The press was originally incorporated with b ...

, 2008, *''Contemporary Arab Political Thought: The Dialectics of Continuity and Change'' (in German) Hamburg: Schriften des Deutschen Orient-Instituts, 2005 *''Religion, State, and Politics in the Near East: An Essay Collection In Memory of Prof. Dr. Friedemann Buettner'' (co-editor, in German) Muenster: Lit Verlag, 2003

Publications

* ''Civil Society in the Middle East'' (book, 2003) . * ''Human Rights in the Arab World: Independent Voices'', co-edited with Anthony Chase, in 2006 Zeitgenössisches Arabisches Denken: Kontinuität und Wandel, (Verlag des Deutschen Orient-Instituts, 2005) . * "Arab spring fever" (essay) An article from: ''

The National Interest ''The National Interest'' (''TNI'') is an American bimonthly international relations magazine edited by American journalist Jacob Heilbrunn and published by the Center for the National Interest, a public policy think tank based in Washington, ...

'' with Nathan J. Brown (Oct 31, 2007). * "Party for Justice and Development in Morocco: Participation and its Discontents", (Carnegie Paper, 2008). * "Islamists in Politics: The Dynamics of Participation" (Carnegie Paper, 2008). * "The Draft Party Platform of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood: Foray Into Political Integration or Retreat Into Old Positions?", with Nathan Brown (Carnegie Paper, 2008). * "Between Government and Opposition: The Case of the Yemeni Congregation for Reform", (Carnegie Paper, 2009). * ''Getting to Pluralism: Political Actors in the Arab World'' (book, co-written with Marina Ottaway, 2009) .

References

External links

Amr Hamzawy's Page on the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Amr Hamzawy's official Facebook page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamzawy, Amr People of the Egyptian revolution of 2011 Egyptian activists Egyptian dissidents Egyptian revolutionaries Cairo University alumni Academic staff of The American University in Cairo 1967 births Living people Members of the Egyptian Constituent Assembly of 2012 Egyptian emigrants to the United States