Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Carnegie scholars assess the Middle East in the year ahead, including potential game changers that could have a big impact for the future of the region.
The question is whether Egypt can stabilize the country and attract foreign investment needed to enliven the economy, while repressing all criticism of government policies from inside or outside and abandoning any semblance of the rule of law.
The roller coaster on which Arab countries have ridden since the 2011 uprisings has given a particularly rough ride to indigenous human rights organizations. Embattled since their founding in the 1980s and 1990s, and often accused of carrying out foreign agendas, groups in several countries are now fighting for their very existence.
Washington needs to collaborate with its Arab allies to address the imminent threat from Islamic State. But it needs to do so while actively discouraging repression and pressing for policies in Arab states that meet the demands of the young generation that started the Arab Spring.
The question is whether the scorched earth methods practiced by Sisi and his government are helping to build legitimacy among the Egyptian population, or if they will fuel radicalization and alienate large swaths of the public.
Many Arab governments are fueling the very extremism they purport to fight and looking for U.S. cover. Washington should play the long game.
As the Egyptian government’s crackdown on dissent broadened over the last year, university campuses have increasingly been in the crosshairs as one of the last remaining spaces for dissent.
In the struggle against the Islamic State, Egypt needs sound political and economic policies that will quench the spread of violence and extremism within the country itself.
The Sisi government’s policies of repression and exclusion are alienating Egypt’s restive population and threatening to push Egyptians into the arms of extremist groups.
As negotiations on a lasting cease-fire in Gaza grind on in Cairo, it’s not only the animosity between Israel and Hamas that is complicating the talks—it’s also Egypt’s role as mediator.
