A Blueprint for Egypt….From a Revolution to a Constitution.. By Jamil Shawwa

Societies, following revolutions, moving to civil and constitutional based governments and countries, can  use a Blueprint to ensure a democratic process to create an accountable system at all levels of government  It  starts with a constitution chosen, written by the people and for the people.

The individuals that will write the constitution, and it applies to any country, must be elected, no other choice. Some say that a society might have revolutionaries, might have elder statesmen or stateswomen“ wise people” that some insist that they must play some role in deciding a constitution which usually a permanent document that more or less provides frameworks to all facets of life. But who decides who is who, and who can get the approval of others of their choices; so accordingly elections is the only way, other people can play an advisory role in building the constitution, based on choices of the elected team that would be actually deliberating and writing a constitution.    Now, the elected leaders, or the “the wise persons” women and men; whoever gets elected would normally have the constitutional law experts; law professors, lawyers, to actually write down the technical part of their ideas, the legal verbiages, and articles , translate the philosophy into actual constitutional materials. So accordingly, to take Egypt as an example, elect a body of 100 that represents every single city in Egypt, and those would be the ones that write down the future of Egypt. Once done, you would have a referendum on the proposed constitution, and if approved, you move to elect a parliament, and then president- the concept could apply to any political system. This is a Blueprint, for Egypt and any country in a similar situation. We have done the same in America with the founding fathers; George Washington, Jefferson, etc. It works in any society. Constitutions are not and should not be looked at as holy scripts; they are not, but they are the documents at hand that judges go by, interpret, and the legislation, correct, or add or delete with the proper popular participation. But the people must agree, in addition to the elected parliament. People therefore have in advance to know what to expect or assume based on availability to whoever is interested to know.

Egypt for a transitional period, while doing the above steps, the Supreme Military Council, the rulers of Egypt must, for now, continue to play the role of the guardian of the civil society, and can have a say in the constitution. Egypt is part of a very volatile area; the Middle East, it is a pioneer in the historic peace process between the State of Israel, the Palestinians and the Muslim and Arab countries, so there are considerations. But again, all can be done simultaneously. And an overall democratic process can start, a transparent process can begin, and it can keep moving.