Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
In Egypt, “reconciliation” has become an unspeakable word. In international circles, the need for inclusion is all one hears.
If Sisi manages to rebuild the Egyptian state, its citizens will be coping with—and debating—his project for many years to come.
How Europeans can foster a more productive approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and reinvigorate the stalled peace process.
A look at both the fine print and the general spirit of the July 3 road map reveals that parts of the road map have been fulfilled, but other important parts have been forgotten, ignored, or violated.
The institutions of the Egyptian state that used to command respect because they were seen as being above the political fray—the judiciary as well as the army—now seem to be very willing participants in the repression of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Egypt’s 2014 constitution failed to deliver on the promise of the 2011 uprising and has resulted in a political order in which important state institutions have insulated themselves from the political process, placing themselves in a supervisory position over the entire political system.
Egypt’s main legal problem is an authoritarian political order and an isolated judiciary that softens some of its rough edges but enforces other ones.
Political Islam is hardly dead, but the movements that lead Islamism into the formal political process are likely to be just a little bit more leery of that path almost everywhere—and perhaps totally shut out of it in Egypt.
Throughout the Middle East, the overthrow of Egypt’s Mohamed Morsi has heightened Islamist-secularist tensions and pushed actors toward zero-sum politics.
Regardless of its policy performance, a Sisi presidency is not likely to be a disaster. It may disappoint many but it is unlikely to collapse and might evolve in a variety of ways.
