Dr. Dina Osama Lotfy is an Ansari Institute Global Fellow and currently an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Cairo University. Her research focuses on autocratic transitions, religion and politics, and terrorism. She earned her B.A., M.Sc., and Ph.D. in Political Science from Cairo University. Her work has also been published in several leading international journals, such as Democratization, Government and Opposition, and Politics and Religion. She developed strong quantitative and analytical skills through her participation in the 2022 ICPSR Summer Program in Quantitative Methods for Social Research, held at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, United States. In addition, she earned the First-Place Best Doctoral Dissertation Award in the field of political science and African studies from the Kemet Boutros Ghali Foundation for Peace and Knowledge, Cairo, Egypt.
Can you please tell me a little bit about yourself? What did you study in your undergrad and your graduate school, and where did you study?
I actually entered with the faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University, so I specialized in political science for my bachelor degree. Then I also did my master's and doctoral dissertation at Cairo University as well, specializing in political science in general, and comparative politics, specifically. Now I am an Assistant Professor at Cairo University.
Tell me a little bit about your dissertation research. What was your thesis, and what were your findings through your research?
My PhD was about religious institutions' stances towards autocratization. So, I was interested in examining the different positions of different religious institutions across different regions towards democratic backsliding, towards certain autocratic practices. I was examining whether they actually supported it, whether they actually opposed it, or whether they were just neutral and calling for peace, and so on.
I gathered the data from the news, from their own pastoral letters, from anything documented online that I could reach, actually. This was the only way to get such information, because it was not easy to secure funding for archival work on such a sensitive topic, and it was also difficult to collect data from multiple countries, since I actually worked across different regions: Africa, Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe, and so on. So I got the data online from any official documents, or from international news, or local news and, mainly I used quantitative methods in explaining the variances in the positions, why religious institutions have different positions, in the post-third wave period, third wave of democratization.
So, my own theoretical argument was that if there is religious competition from other religious denominations,the position of the religious institution will be oppositional. It will oppose such autocratization. And what I added to the literature is the historical pro-democratizing role, whether the religious institution already had a historical democratic role before, during the third wave of democratization. So, whether there is a stable commitment or not. I was also studying the interaction between such two variables, religious competition and having a historical pro-democratizing role. And what I found in my own results is that a historically pro-democratizing role is strengthened – they will have a stable commitment towards democracy – when they are facing higher religious competition from other religious denominations. Such interactions I also witnessed in my own study.
Then, I gave examples throughout my thesis, I focused specifically on Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo as two case studies in Africa. Because in both of these two countries, the Catholic Church was actually facing high competition from other religious denominations. So why, in the case of Rwanda, the Catholic Church was not having an oppositional position towards autocratic practice, while the DRC, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Catholic Church, has a very strong opposition. The determining factor was the historical pro-democratizing role that I was speaking about. Because in Rwanda the Catholic Church did not have such a strong historical democratizing role compared to the Catholic Church in the DRC.
So that was all my own thesis. It was published in three papers. The first one was in Government and Opposition, the second one was in Politics and Religion Journal. And the final one was in the African Social Research Journal. So it was like a three-paper thesis in its structure.
When you researched religious institutions, did you see variance within the religious institutions as well?
Concerning this kind of internal divisions, yeah, it was witnessed, but it was very difficult to actually gather data on whether there are internal divisions or not. That's why, even in the book that I'm working on, I'm not saying these institutions are monolithic institutions. There are, of course, divisions inside, but what I focus on here were the statements that came out from such an institution regardless of the internal division. Because at the end of the day, I have a statement that came out from an official institution. But of course, in my own conclusions, that's what I actually recommend for future studies. Like, “please, do some qualitative work and see why there are internal divisions.” And I give examples, for instance, like in Myanmar, there are divisions among the Buddhist monks regarding the coup d'etat.
Now you are an Ansari Institute Global Fellow. What are you looking forward to during the fellowship year?
What I like is that my colleagues – the other global fellows – are working in certain countries, or in certain regions inside the countries. So this actually gets me introduced to a speciality of certain countries and regions and so on. Because, as I told you, I'm focusing across different regions and so getting to talk with people who actually study certain countries in depth is very important as well. Additionally, we have colleagues who are focusing on foreign policies or international relations, so that also helps to try to connect the comparative politics that I specialize in with those who are actually engaging with international relations.
These conversations also introduce me to new topics. So while they are talking about their own topics, I'm gathering new ideas.
Also, it's my first time to write a book. I have experience in writing journal articles. But transferring my own work into a book – and such a book is not going to be a repetition of what I did in my PhD, because I would like to have a new contribution -- I'm looking forward to the comments that I'm going to receive from the other global fellows. It's a good opportunity to engage with diverse readers from different regions, because that is who I want to reach at the end of the day. I don't want my own book to be for only Americans. I don't want my own book to be for only Egyptians. I would like to reach diverse academic backgrounds as well.
After your experience as an Ansari Institute Global Fellow, what will be your next steps?
I would like to have another institutional experience. I feel like, being 10 years at Cairo University, from Bachelor until now, is like a safe zone. I am here, I have a job. But, it would be better to have another institutional experience, not in Egypt. In political science specifically, Cairo University and the American University in Cairo are the top universities in political science. So, if I would like to have another institutional experience, it will be very hard to have it here in Egypt. So that's why it's better to have it abroad, and then return back. So I'm not saying that I'm going to leave but postdocs or visiting fellowships are what I'm targeting right now, to have another institutional experience.