The Role of the Army in Egypt 10 Years after Tahrir

11 February 2021. From 18:30 | Webinar | English | Online
slideshow image An opposition demonstrator prays in front of army soldiers near Tahrir Square in Cairo, February 5, 2011. REUTERS/ Yannis Behrakis

The military has played a critical role in creating and shaping the Egyptian Republic since 1953. It has monopolized power for brief periods but mostly has been part of a wider coalition of state institutional actors and bureaucratic cliques that often compete with each other. The precise form and balance of relations between these actors and cliques are what has distinguished each presidency from another. Since 2013, President Al Sisi has used the military to spearhead a new version of state capitalism, massively expanding the scope and scale of its involvement in the civilian economy. It plays a central part in the deployment of Egyptian nationalism, proto-fascist politics and regressive social policies, and totalitarian tendencies aided by monopolistic control of public discourse and space.

Conference by Yezid Sayigh, a senior research fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, where he leads the program on Civil-Military Relations in the Arab States (CMRAS). Moderated by Montserrat Arbós, academic coordinator of the department of Humanities, and professor of the master that co-organises the session, the Master’s in International Journalism (Blanquerna – Universitat Ramon Llull).

Speakers


Moderator

Montserrat Arbós

Professor Universitat de Ramon Llull
Speaker

Yezid Sayigh

Researcher Carnegie Middle East Center

Collaboration