Egyptian Attitudes toward Democracy: What the Afrobarometer Reveals about the Influence of Individuals' Social Characteristics

Abstract

This study intends to investigate the influence of age, education, gender, degree of religiosity, income, type of residence, interest in public affairs, social and political trust, and employment status on attitudes toward and interpretations of democracy among 1200 Egyptians living in urban and rural areas who participated in Afrobarometer survey in 2013. The author uses principle component and regression analyses to test hypotheses about the state of political culture in Egypt after the Arab Spring of 2011 and before the military coup. The variables age, gender, employment status, residence type, and social trust have not been found significant in any of the observed models. Higher income individuals, compared to those with lower incomes valued democratic principles less - instead preferring unlimited control by one party or President - and were more likely to access the term democracy negatively. More educated citizens tend to positively evaluate occupational gender and rejection of one party-one man rule, while less educated prefer material rights over free and fair elections and freedom of speech. Religious citizens tend to show more support for lawful actions imposed by executive governmental bodies on ordinary citizens than less religious people. Higher levels of political trust is positively associated with attitudes toward the term democracy and one-party and one-man rule. Finally, people interested in public affairs vs. those who are not interested tend to possess negative attitudes toward the term democracy.