 Vickie Langohr, Too Much Civil Society, Too Little Politics: Egypt and Liberalizing Arab Regimes Advocacy nongovernmental organizations have led major antiauthoritarian campaigns in many liberalizing Arab regimes because of the weakness of opposition parties. Their actions bode poorly for democratization because they are structurally incapable of sustaining successful campaigns against determined authoritarian regimes. To explain the weakness of opposition to Arab authoritarianism, it is necessary to examine the conditions that promote the expression of opposition through nongovernmental organizations rather than parties. These conditions include both severe limitations on party mobilization, the financial poverty of most opposition parties, and the dramatic increase in donor funds for advocacy nongovernmental organizations. |