Catherine E. Herrold, "Delta Democracy: Pathways to Incremental Civic Revolution in Egypt and Beyond" (Oxford UP, 2020)

Ten years from the uprising in Egypt, Dr. Catherine E. Herrold, an associate professor at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and a Faculty Affiliate of the Indiana University Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs joins the New Books Network to discuss how local foundations navigate, in real time, a major social movement – and contribute to democratic reform. The 2011 Arab Spring protests seemed to be a promising moment of democratization and liberalization but the aftermath proved to be quite different with the outbreak of civil wars and the reemergence of authoritarian leaders. Delta Democracy argues that the public, those who make policy, and everyone in-between must look beyond the political action that captures headlines to understand the important work done by local groups. Herrold’s ethnographic research on Egypt’s nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) highlights the ongoing mobilization taking place at the grassroots in civil society. Her extensive field research reveals the strategies that local NGOs used to cultivate “democratic values and skills among everyday citizens” and she suggests that these strategies deployed by local NGOs may be more available and immediate than reforming national political institutions. Delta Democracy: Pathways to Incremental Civic Revolution in Egypt and Beyond (Oxford UP, 2020) not only increases our understanding of the grassroots mechanisms used to combat authoritarianism, it also serves as a playbook for US policymakers as they make important decisions about the type of community organizations that they fund – and readers and listeners might be surprised by which groups are helping make important changes in Egypt. Those normally not considered “players” in the political reform arena might actually be those doing the most work building the civil society that supports democratic reform. Herrold conducted over 100 interviews with leaders of Egyptian philanthropic foundations, development NGOs, human rights NGOs, leaders of interna