ABSTRACT
During the 1990s, Egyptian Islamists – especially the older al-Jihad and the Islamic Group which emerged from the jam’iyat movement – staged a revolutionary war against the regime which peaked during the decade’s first half and declined thereafter. They were defeated for a variety of reasons, including the government’s clever, multi-layered strategy; the strength of the regime’s institutions and the security agencies’ loyalty; the lack of popular support for the radicals; and the divisions among the insurgent groups.
