The MB Covers Conference on Egypt's Regional Role

A recent report published on the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt's website takes a look at some of the perceived causes behind Egypt's declining role as a regional player in the Arab world. It features commentary made by political scientists and journalists at an annual conference held by the Egyptian-based think tank the International Center for Future and Strategic Studies. The report suggest that Egypt's declining influence on regional issues – as suggested by the Qatari-led talks on Lebanon and the Turkish-mediated Syrian-Israeli talks – reflects, and is partly the result of, its shortcomings on domestic matters.

A professor from the University of Cairo addressed Egypt's noticeable retreat from the regional stage over the past two decades since the Camp David Accords. He argues that the 1978 peace deal with Israel has effectively enabled Israel and the US to thwart the country from exerting its influence. A director of a research center then goes on to say that the Egyptian government has been slow to adapt to developments in the region, a trend that he states is partly attributable to a ruling elite that lacks interest in fostering Egypt's regional stock. He also suggests that the country's dealings with the US and Egypt have reduced its regional credibility.

Other commentary highlighted in the report focuses on how internal policies may have also played a role in the country's decline as a regional player, albeit in a more figurative sense.

The editor-in-chief of the newspaper Akhbar al-Adeb adds that this decline is a reflection of interior problems, namely the absence of true democracy and dialogue between the regime and its constituents. He links internal problems with the country's regional image by illustrating what he sees as the decline of well-known cultural cornerstones of Egyptian society long revered in the Arab world. The nationalization of traditional institutions like Al-Azhar University, and continued state tampering with the media, in his opinion, have had a negative effect upon Egypt's image a cultural leader in the Arab world. A representative of the press syndicate then demands that the regime cease its heavy handed security measures, perhaps an indirect reference to the arrest of press figures in recent years, and allow free transparent elections.

Given the escalation of tensions between the Brotherhood and the Mubarak regime in recent years, it perhaps comes to no surprise that the group would try to link faults in Egypt's domestic policies – issues that are more relevant to the group's political well-being – with long established critiques of the Arab state as a regional player post-Camp David. The country's relative absence from more recent, and highly publicized, talks on Lebanon and those between Syria and Israel, have perhaps only opened the door for criticism from the regime's opponents on both domestic and regional issues.