ABSTRACT
Bold political experiments in the Arab world are not a novel experience for its denizens. Local, regional and global factors are in lockstep, producing a dynamic pitting authoritarianism on one side and popular activism on the other side. At times, these two sides can be brought in close and temporary proximity to serve a perceived shared interest. However, the congregation of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people during the ‘Arab Spring’ was borne of the incidental and the inequitable. Mohammad Bouaziz’s act of self-immolation unleashed a chain of events, most certainly not his intention, leading to the downfall of four dictators and ongoing struggles against despots and their ruling orders. Internet-savvy activists, indigenous norms and practices of dissent and the occupation of public spaces combined to challenge the seemingly invincible power of the authoritarian state and its coercive arms. I seek to shed light on Egypt’s popular uprising against
Hosni Mubarak in early 2011 and ensuing events until the present in this article. Speculations about the future of the octogenarian Mubarak were accompanied by questions about who would be the next president of Egypt. Trepidation about a political succession occurring within the Mubarak family, namely of Gamal Mubarak, provoked an organised response which cultivated a democratic synergy among politically active Egyptians. I will divide my discussion into three parts. The first part discusses democracy, power and Arab
authoritarianism as a prelude to part two’s illustration of the far from linear transition in Egypt from authoritarianism to democracy. Part three ponders upon the democratic lessons, breakthroughs and pitfalls, in the period prior and following the Mubarak regime’s end. Dramatic changes from the bottom-up involved a religious majority in meaningful elections for the first time in the living memory of tens of millions of Egyptians. In this context, the unavoidable invoking of religion, through rhetoric, space or society, is reflected in the debate on the Shari’ah, popular mobilisation in mosques and the welfare activities of the Muslim Brotherhood. However, the stubborn persistence of a statist tradition contrived to marginalise religious actors, even when elected in power, to political obscurity. The indigenous resources for building political networks opposing this state have been variously repressed, co-opted or appropriated with the might of raison d’état laying down the law.
