Civil Society Organizations in Post Revolution Egypt: Search for Identity

“Civil society is the oxygen for democracy” said The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Civil society organizations, here and after called CSOs, play an important role as one of the entrances of building democracy in societies which pursue democratization. By commitment to their assumed roles through performing advocacy and service provision actions, CSOs can establish a sort of integrity between the public and authority and facilitate demands satisfaction. The author argues that the Egyptian Civil society organizations, here and after called ECSOs, hardly do either of these actions. Although exogenous factors, for example, the tighten grip of the state, represent a big obstacle against ECSOs, the author argues that endogenous factors also play a significant role in disabling the ECSOs from assuming their roles in the Egyptian society. Therefore, what ECSOs really need is to search for their identity. Of course, ECSOs can't only by themselves do this; consequently, some prospective recommendations are shown to select the best option. A qualitative research method is adopted to support the author's argument.