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Egypt After Mubarak: Liberalism, Islam, and Democracy in the Arab World.

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Egypt After Mubarak: Liberalism, Islam, and Democracy in the Arab World, by Bruce K. Rutherford. Princeton University Press, 2008. 292 pages. $35.00.

In Egypt after Mubarak, Bruce K. Rutherford outlines the legal, judicial and constitutional philosophies of Egypt's major political forces. He argues that, while what he calls liberal constitutionalists and Islamic constitutionalists differ on important moral and political questions, a "convergence" has taken place around certain issue areas. This convergence, argues Rutherford, makes possible an alliance to combat the state's encroachment on civil and political rights; however, the entrenched institutional and economic power of the state makes it unlikely that this alliance will lead to a transition in the near future.

Rutherford's work is an exemplary piece of single-case scholarship that nevertheless enhances our understanding of both Egyptian and Arab politics. Situated in the field of comparative political theory, Rutherford's work fosters debate on the persistence of authoritarianism, democratization and the possibilities for Islamic democracy. In so doing, it stands as a model for the way that area specialists can contribute to general bodies of knowledge in political science.

Rutherford's analysis is grounded in the historical-institutional perspective. He seeks to "delineate the major conceptions of political order that compete for preeminence in the polity" (p. 28). In Egypt, those three conceptions are liberal constitutionalism, Islamic constitutionalism and statism (p. 40). Rutherford narrates...

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