ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the structure and basic tenets of the Egyptian regime, discuss the various challenges facing it, and assess its durability. The authoritarian principle still plays a dominant role in the Egyptian system. The president is the author of all important decisions in domestic and foreign matters and makes all major appointments to civilian and military posts. Egypt has long been viewed as a classical model of an “hydraulic society.” Traditional concepts, shaped by geography and Islamic teachings, combine to give the head of the Egyptian state a unique standing. In post-revolutionary Egypt, the notion of charisma has been synonymous with Nasser. Husni Mubarak inherited the leadership of Egypt after a long and exhausting period of intensive political action. The civil bureaucracy, another pillar of the regime, is an hierarchical system of ministries, agencies, and branches administered by the president’s appointed officials and their subordinates.
