Amr Hamzawy ( arz, عمرو حمزاوى, ; 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, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

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 cam ...

and

public intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or ...

Biography

Hamzawy studied political science and developmental studies in Cairo,

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

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

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

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 and East Asia, and the Middle East as well as the United States. Founded i ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morg ...

between 2005 and 2009 as a senior associate for

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

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

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

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

American University in Cairo The American University in Cairo (AUC; ar, الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة, Al-Jāmi‘a al-’Amrīkiyya bi-l-Qāhira) is a private research university in Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning progra ...

, where he worked for approximately 5 years. Finally, in late 2016, he moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, where he started teaching political science at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

. He still works there today. His research and teaching interests as well as his academic publications focus on democratization processes in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

, tensions between

freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving one ...

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 moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

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 ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...

. He is also a former member of the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights. Hamzawy contributes a daily column and a weekly op-ed to the Egyptian independent newspaper '' Al Shorouk''.

Education

Hamzawy received his bachelor's degree from

Cairo University Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...

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

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

, and another from the Institute of Social Studies 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 research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...

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 ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...

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 Ahmed Mohamed Shafik ZakiAlso spelled: ''Shafiq''. ( ar, أحمد محمد شفيق زكى, ; born 25 November 1941) is an Egyptian politician and former presidential candidate. He was a senior commander in the Egyptian Air Force and later ser ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier 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. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

, 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 The Egypt of Freedom Party (; transliterated: ''Hizb Masr Alhureyya'') is a political party in Egypt which was founded on 18 May 2011 by Amr Hamzawy and a group of Egyptian youth after the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 The 2011 Egyptian revo ...

. 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 ( ar, تـمـرد, tamarrud, "rebellion") was an Egyptian grassroots movement that was founded to register opposition to President Mohamed Morsi and force him to call early presidential elections. The goal was to collect 15 million sig ...

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. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

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 Basma Ahmed Sayyed Hassan ( ar, بسمة أحمد سيد حسن; born December 7, 1976) is an Egyptian actress. Early life Basma's father is a journalist and her mother is a women's rights activist. She is the granddaughter through her mother ...

at the Marriott Hotel in Cairo, and divorced in 2019. Their children are Luay, Noah and Nadya.

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) Nathan J. Brown (born July 9, 1958) is an American scholar of Middle Eastern law and politics at George Washington University. Brown is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs and the ...

(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 (or Penn Press) is a university press affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The press was originally incorporated with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on 26 M ...

, 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, Jan 31, 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 Marina S. Ottaway teaches and researches at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. Her research interests include the politics of development, with particular reference to Africa, the Balkans, and the Middle East. Before she joined the Wi ...

, 2009) .

References

External links

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

Amr Hamzawy's official Facebook page

Masr Al Hureyya official Facebook page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamzawy, Amr People of the Egyptian revolution of 2011 Egyptian activists Egyptian dissidents Egyptian revolutionaries Cairo University alumni The American University in Cairo 1967 births Living people Members of the Egyptian Constituent Assembly of 2012