By Dr Ronald Meinardus After nearly eight years at the helm of the Cairo Office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF), Germany’s liberal think tank, Dr Ronald Meinardus, who has, on and off, also contributed to the editorial page of this newspaper, is leaving Egypt shortly. The following is the first of three …
By Ronald Meinardus In Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world, domestic turbulences are affecting international relations. Following the uprising in January 2011, Cairo has pursued what may be termed a multidimensional foreign policy aimed at reducing the unipolar dependence on the United States and other Western allies. These efforts have become particularly visible following …
By Ronald Meinardus I’ll start on a personal note. I’m writing this commentary with a sense of unease and cautiousness. I’m a foreigner living in Egypt, and intend to write about political issues related to the host country. As long as foreign journalists are in jail for doing their work, this prudence is in order. …
By Ronald Meinardus An apt definition of politics is the discussion and implementation of decisions related to the future of society. The political decision making process is influenced by myriad factors, conflicting interests and inconsistent perspectives thereby frequently impeding clear strategic choices. Predicting the political and economic future is the realm of analysts. As these …
By Dr. Ronald Meinardus For me, the best news on 4 November, the day of the historic trial of former President Mohamed Morsi, was that Egypt for a change did not bewail fatal victims of politically inspired clashes. Blood and death have become an earmark of Egyptian politics; the continuous violence has contributed to the …
By Ronald Meinardus To understand the unfolding politics of post 30 June Egypt, it is useful to follow developments on three distinct policy levels. First, there is the level of the implementation of the new order’s roadmap. This is an extremely ambitious, I would even say unrealistic, timetable to get Egypt back to democratically legitimised …
By Ronald Meinardus CAIRO: After the downfall of Tunisian dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and the gradual consolidation of the political situation on the ground, international attention is shifting to possible implications the unprecedented Tunisian events may have for the region as a whole. “Domino effect” and “tipping point” are catch phrases used by analysts and …
By  Ronald Meinardus CAIRO: This year, we are celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the unification of Germany. Apart from bringing unity and freedom to the people of that country, this epochal event also symbolizes more than anything else the end of the global confrontation between what was then the East and the West. This conflict came …
