Amir Taheri

With President Hosni Mubarak about to slip into history, which forces might feature in Egypt's difficult road to democratization?

Many think that Mubarak's demise will create a vacuum that only Islamists can fill. That is what Mubarak wanted everyone to believe -- including the Egyptian Christian minority and the middle classes of Cairo and Alexandria, as well as Western democracies, led by America. Mubarak peddled that yarn while his government quietly supported the Islamists to prevent the emergence of democratic forces.

However, Egypt isn't the political desert that some claim. Mubarak's dictatorship wasn't like Saddam Hussein's in Iraq or the Assad dynasty's in Syria.

AP

A people seeking better government, not a mob: Demonstrators in Cairo yesterday, pushing for President Hosni Mubarak to step down.

The Egyptian press enjoys a degree of freedom that Syrian or Libyan journalists, if they exist, can't dream of. Mubarak has also tolerated some dissent, partly to please Western allies.

Thus, with the nation trying to emerge from 50 years of dictatorship, a number of active and/or potential political forces capable of playing a role could be identified.