| dc.description.abstract | The Egyptian labor movement is one of the most active forces of Egyptian civil society today. Since the revolution in 2011, over 1,000 new unions have been founded and 3,000 strikes have taken place. This thesis asks whether these strikes and unions are a constructive force for democratization in Egypt. To answer that, two in-depth case studies are conducted. The chosen cases are the Independent Union of Public Transportation Workers and the Independent Movement in the Doctors Syndicate. Their role in the current transition is analyzed based on ethnographic observation, in-depth qualitative interviews, newspaper articles and archive material. I challenge established perspectives on trade unions and democratization and develop a new framework, where I do not only investigate the unions relation to political parties and political institutions, but also explore how individuals participating in the unions are affected and how the unions influence the industrial relation system. This is because democratization is not just about establishing a democratic political framework, but also requires active citizens that can voice their grievances and participate in democratic institutions. My analysis shows that the Independent Transportation Workers and Independent Doctors maintain a narrow focus, fighting for better wages and working conditions, rather than political change. This narrow focus has some negative implications. I found no evidence of any increased commitment to democracy among the participating members. The unions refuse to work with national federations to implement structural changes and it is unlikely that any political party will emerge from these unions. The negative aspects are arguably outweighed by important positive implications of their work. My informants gained an increased sense of agency as a result of union participation, both groups have fought for democratization of industrial relations on a local level and they are able to include members from different ideological camps, which has an important de-polarizing potential; especially for today s Egypt. My findings challenge the assumption that unions must have a political or structural outlook in order to play a positive role in democratization processes. Moreover, there is no evidence in this thesis that the unions would have played a more fruitful role for democratization had they adopted democratic change as an explicit goal. I argue that their positive role in the current transition process comes as an unintended result of their actions to maintain a narrow and non-political focus. In other words, they are unintentional democrats. | eng |