Source: Council on Foreign Relations
“Egypt is in, I believe, a very prolonged process of change and we really don’t know how things are going to come out,” said Carnegie’s Michele Dunne at the Council on Foreign Relations’ roundtable discussion on Egypt’s transition. Restoring the kind of stability that would allow the government to make clear economic decisions, Dunne argued, is going to require not just a government in control, but also a government that has a lot more consensus. In order to revive the economy more broadly and bring back investment, Dunne said Egypt will need greater stability.
Egypt’s security services were never reformed since Mubarak left, Dunne added, and have been reinvigorated and re-empowered in carrying out significant abuses without much control. She contended that the policy that Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and the current government are pursuing will not lead to stabilization, noting that the current crackdown will engender more violence and demonstrations, as the country lurches from crisis to crisis, economic and political.
This discussion was originally published at the Council on Foreign Relations.