"Civil society" has become a key concept and a central quest in the search for paths to democracy and liberty in many parts of the world. This search has been particularly notable in Egypt, where an increasingly totalitarian state has sought in recent decades to project an image of democracy but at the same time attack and undermine all potential bases of social autonomy and political action. These are the central issues discussed in this book. The picture is complicated by the prominent part played by religious and religio-communal politics on the Egyptian stage. Are Islamic associations and forms of political action forces of civil society engaged in the quest for social autonomies and liberation from authoritarian strictures, or do they themselves add another tier of repres- sion in the name of religious conformity and moral conduct?