Organized by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies on March 9, 2011, was the second in a series of intellectual debates related to the Egyptian revolution. This session addressed “The Situation in Egypt: Possible Scenarios and the Agenda of the Popular Revolution and its Impact for the Region”. The session was attended by intellectuals and activists from Egypt, a number of academic specialists as well as researchers from the ACRPS.

The meeting focused on the Egyptian revolution and sought to arrive at a series of practical steps to help plan for the next stage of Egyptian life. While the ouster of Mubarak was indeed the result of a genuine popular revolution, one which received wide-spread attention within the Arab world and globally, there was a second, qualitatively different revolution which followed shortly afterwards. This was the revolution which toppled Ahmad Shafiq's Government, and brought about the Prime Ministership of Essam Sharaf. It was Sharaf, who had taken his oath of office from Tahrir Square, who began taking steps to un-ravel the State Security apparatus and further lay the foundations for a genuine democracy.