2. Main points
• Political History of Modern Egypt
• Economic and social conditions
• The genie in the bottle: Muslim Brotherhood
• The Army: what does it want?
3. Founding of Modern State (1798-1850)
• Napoleon Expedition to
Egypt 1798-1801 sent a
wakeup call through all of
Egypt
• Mohamed Ali undertook
enormous economic
development creating
european style state
school system and sending
many Egyptians to Europe
for education and training
4. Paris Along the Nile (1860’s-1882)
• Comprehensive western
influence especially from
France on Architecture,
legal code and culture
– Opening of Suez Canal
– Opera Aida
– Building of modern Cairo
– First Egyptian Parliament
in 1866!
– So much debt created,
resulting ultimately in
British Occupation
5. Golden Liberal Age(1923-1952)
• After world war 1, a new revolution in 1919
against british occupation resulted in Egypt
independence from Britain in 1922 and 1923
constitution which was a liberal and
democratic one
• This period was very rich especially culturally
and economically but was full of turbulant
times of world war, depression etc. Lots of
political parties but also frustration
6. Unstabilizing Arab Nationalism (1952-
1970)
• 1952 Coup by Nasser and co
• A new socialist autocratic state suspending
constitution and political party and very
oppressive police state but still hugely popular
at the beginning
• Government nationalizes all economy and get
involved in 5 wars in 25 years!
7. Moderation and Economic Opening
(Sadat 1970-1981)
• A much more pragmatic and open to world
leader, Sadat took a great length and effort to
open Egypt again to the world and achieve
peace.
• Egyptian intellectuals and islamist groups
were fiercely against him and dismayed by his
shock therapy policy of rapid change costing
him his life ultimately
8. Mubarak (1980-2011) - The age of
cautiousness
• Sitting next to the assasinated president of Egypt
taught Mubarak a valuable lesson: stability
• Adopted cold peace with Israel and avoided taking any
controversial policies or unpredicted turns. For
example: Lifting subsidies of food was a red line for him
because of riots that happened because of that in 1977
• He had a strong crackdown on islamic terrorism in the
1990s that resulted in a much bigger police apparatus
• Last 5 years however, he delegated bold economic
reforms to government while still running the security
portion of the state in the same way.
18. Muslim Brotherhood history
• Founded in 1928 by a school teacher to
promote social renewal based on islamic faith
and sharia as a rejection to the prevalent
liberalism and westernization of Egypt at the
time
• Was influenced by the prevalent fascist and
nazi parties at the time and quickly created a
military wing
19. Early violence (before 1952)
• In the 1940’s, the secret military part was involved in
some explosions in cinemas and shopping centers
• Many members of the secret organization were
sentenced jail terms
• They then assasinated the judge that gave them the
sentenced
• Prime minister dissolved group and declared it illegal
• They assasinated the prime minister
• The King of Egypt gave orders for the leader of the
group to be assasinated as well
20. Muslim Brotherhood and Nasser
• At the beginning, they shared their hatred of
the existing conditions in Egypt
• Nasser however believed that Egypt should be
secular
• Assassination attempt on Nasser in 1954
• Again most members in jail and persecuted
21. Muslim Brotherhood and Sadat
• Sadat was much more friendly to MB than
Nasser
• Released them from prison
• Tried to overthrow government in 1974 but
failed
• Quickly took a strong hold creating many
islamist groups in Egypt
• Sadat was assasinated in 1981 by groups
branching from MB!
22. Mubarak: persecution again
• Ruthless persecution for political role and
violent groups
• However the group had much more freedom
to organize and communicate
• Currently the best organized group in Egypt
and has influenced Egyptian society greatly in
last 10 years making Egypt much more
religious than it ever was.
23. Army
• Traditional stances
– Hates Muslim Brotherhood
– Hates Businessmen
– Hates police
• Now though the situation is so unstable it is
not clear who is really in control or is there
any leadership at all in the country
