Egypt
Egypt

Author: Robert Springborg

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2017-09-18

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 150952052X

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Egypt is one of the few great empires of antiquity that exists today as a nation state. Despite its extraordinary record of national endurance, the pressures to which Egypt currently is subjected and which are bound to intensify are already straining the ties that hold its political community together, while rendering ever more difficult the task of governing it. In this timely book, leading expert on Egyptian affairs Robert Springborg explains how a country with such a long and impressive history has now arrived at this parlous condition. As Egyptians become steadily more divided by class, religion, region, ethnicity, gender and contrasting views of how, by whom and for what purposes they should be governed, so their rulers become ever more fearful, repressive and unrepresentative. Caught in a downward spiral in which poor governance is both cause and consequence, Egypt is facing a future so uncertain that it could end up resembling neighboring countries that have collapsed under similar loads. The Egyptian "hot spot", Springborg argues, is destined to become steadily hotter, with ominous implications for its peoples, the Middle East and North Africa, and the wider world.

Militarizing the Nation
Militarizing the Nation

Author: Zeinab Abul-Magd

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2017-03-21

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 0231542801

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Egypt's army portrays itself as a faithful guardian "saving the nation." Yet saving the nation has meant militarizing it. Zeinab Abul-Magd examines both the visible and often invisible efforts by Egypt's semi-autonomous military to hegemonize the country's politics, economy, and society over the past six decades. The Egyptian army has adapted to and benefited from crucial moments of change. It weathered the transition to socialism in the 1960s, market consumerism in the 1980s, and neoliberalism from the 1990s onward, all while enhancing its political supremacy and expanding a mammoth business empire. Most recently, the military has fought back two popular uprisings, retained full power in the wake of the Arab Spring, and increased its wealth. While adjusting to these shifts, military officers have successfully transformed urban milieus into ever-expanding military camps. These spaces now host a permanent armed presence that exercises continuous surveillance over everyday life. Egypt's military business enterprises have tapped into the consumer habits of the rich and poor alike, reaping unaccountable profits and optimizing social command. Using both a political economy approach and a Foucauldian perspective, Militarizing the Nation traces the genealogy of the Egyptian military for those eager to know how such a controversial power gains and maintains control.

Understanding Protest Diffusion
Understanding Protest Diffusion

Author: Arne F. Wackenhut

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-02-05

Total Pages: 135

ISBN-13: 303039350X

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This book traces the mobilization process leading up to the January 25 Uprising, and furthers our understanding of the largely unexpected diffusion of protest during this Egyptian Revolution. Focusing on the role of the so-called “Cairo-based political opposition,” this study strongly suggests a need to pay closer attention to the complexity and contingent nature of such large-scale protest episodes. Building on interviews with activists, employees of NGOs in the human rights advocacy sector, and journalists, this in-depth single case study reveals how different movement organizations in the Egyptian prodemocracy movement had long, and largely unsuccessfully, tried to mobilize support for socio-political change in the country. Against this backdrop, the book illustrates how a coalition of activists sought to organize a protest event against police brutality in early 2011. The resulting protests on January 25 surprised not only the regime of Hosni Mubarak, but also the organizers.

The Promise of a New America
The Promise of a New America

Author: William Paul Wanker

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2017-01-24

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 136568279X

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The Promise of a New America identifies the philosophical, historical, political, economic, social, and cultural causes underpinning the increasing dysfunction of the American Republic and the subsequent disenfranchisement of its peoples. The book uses these findings to identify a solution to remedy our ills: it is to build new form of governance around the concept of human dignity and living a dignified human existence. The book proposes the new form be an eco-cultural community, a community defined both by its naturally occurring bio-system and by the economic and cultural identity of the people involved therein. And the book challenges all Americans to overthrow our republican form of government, by engaging in a Campaign for Human Dignity, supported technically as that campaign would be through the Human Dignity Project, (TM) which would ensure increasing enfranchisement and not segregation.

The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East
The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East

Author: Armando Salvatore

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 940

ISBN-13: 0190087471

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"Book Abstract: The sociology of the Middle East has been an expanding field of inquiry since the aftermath of WWII when phenomena as diverse as urbanization, internal and international migration, and peasant societies attracted the attention of scholars working on the region. The Middle East became central in key sociological debates on modernization theory and the critical responses. The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of the Middle East connects this historical trajectory with the emergence of the sociology of Islam, inspired by Max Weber. It explores how within the global community, the Middle East has become a terrain of heightened concern within the post-Cold War context, where the promising rise of civic (and often religiously-inspired) sociopolitical movements in the 1980s and 1990s has been slowly overwhelmed by the affirmation of jihadist networks, authoritarian states, and complex supranational security apparatuses. This foundational volume starts by engaging in a critical examination of the field itself, starting with a historical sociology of the making of the idea itself of the Middle East and linking it with the legacy of colonialism and the evolving dynamics of global power. In repurposing the sociology of the Middle East within a growing interdisciplinary multifield, the Handbook develops the critical argument that the exploration of social dynamics in the Middle East cannot be disjoined from the analysis of culture and politics. By connecting the vexed state-society relations in the region with movements of transformation and the affirmation of rights and creativity in the public arenas, it provides a comprehensive perspective to investigate longstanding regional and new transregional and global dynamics and their impact on the life of people in the region. Keywords: sociology of the Middle East, sociology of Islam, Max Weber, historical sociology, Middle East and North Africa region, MENA"--

New Wave of Revolutions in the MENA Region
New Wave of Revolutions in the MENA Region

Author: Leonid Issaev

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-11-05

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 3031151356

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This book offers a comparative perspective on the new wave of revolutions in the MENA region. Recently, a new wave of revolutions has swept the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, comparable in some respects to the events of the Arab Spring. Revolutionary events have significantly changed the political regimes in Sudan, Algeria and Mali, while Lebanon and Iraq have also witnessed serious revolutionary episodes. Further, a new quality of protests has manifested in Iran, Egypt, Morocco and Jordan. Presenting a variety of country studies, this book identifies similarities and differences between the events of the Arab Spring and the current upheavals in the MENA region and examines their causes and world-system context. It also analyzes the motivating forces, goals and organizational forms of the protesters and other actors involved, as well as the political and economic consequences of these revolutionary events. Moreover, it seeks to understand why some countries that were actively involved in the Arab Spring have remained largely unaffected by these developments. The book appeals to scholars of political science with a focus on comparative politics, Middle Eastern politics and political sociology.

Political Leadership Between Democracy and Authoritarianism
Political Leadership Between Democracy and Authoritarianism

Author: Jerzy J. Wiatr

Publisher: Verlag Barbara Budrich

Published: 2022-01-17

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 3847416936

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In diesem Buch wird die Theorie der politischen Führung, die ein noch wenig erforschtes Feld der Politikwissenschaft ist, beleuchtet. Sie ist verwandt mit dem philosophischen Streit um Determinismus versus Aktivismus und hilft den Grundkonflikt des 21. Jahrhunderts zwischen liberaler Demokratie und neuem Autoritarismus zu verstehen. Das Buch befasst sich mit Max Webers Typologie politischer Herrschaft und seinem Konzept der Verantwortungsethik, welche der Schlüssel zur Theorie der Führung sind. Der Autor zeigt auf, dass der unvollendete Wettstreit zwischen Demokratie und neuem Autoritarismus im 21. Jahrhundert die Bedeutung von Führung in alten und neuen Demokratien sowie in den neoautoritären Regimen bestätigt und einen neuen Typus politischer Führungskräfte fordert.

President Sisi's Delegative Authoritarianism
President Sisi's Delegative Authoritarianism

Author: Robert Springborg

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 16

ISBN-13:

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The "coup-volution" of 2011 removed President Mubarak but not his authoritarian regime, which is now guided by his successor, President Abd al Fattah al Sisi. Both autocrats, there are nevertheless important differences between these two presidents and their respective regimes. Sisi's tougher authoritarianism is analogous to the Latin American prototype of "delegative democracy," a stalled phase of democratic institution building in which voters delegate their authority to the president, who rules unconstrained by balance of institutional powers. The primary feature of what in the Egyptian case might better be termed "delegative authoritarianism," is the decision-making autonomy of the president, who perceives himself as the "embodiment of the nation and the main custodian and definer of its interests." This results in erratic, inconsistent and ineffective policymaking, which isolates the president yet more from institutions and political forces, while causing the entire polity to be suffused with a deep cynicism. Although the most probable scenario is that Sisi will continue for the foreseeable future as Egypt's delegative dictator, as a one-man band his regime is inherently unstable and prone to coups, coup-volutions and outright revolutions. Sisi's Egypt provides an ideal model for the country's foreign supporters of how civilian control of armed forces can render government more effective in the discharge of its duties, including providing security for its people, something which delegative authoritarianism will never accomplish.

Islamic Populism in Indonesia and the Middle East
Islamic Populism in Indonesia and the Middle East

Author: Vedi R. Hadiz

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2016-02-05

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 131647786X

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In a novel approach to the field of Islamic politics, this provocative new study compares the evolution of Islamic populism in Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, to the Middle East. Utilising approaches from historical sociology and political economy, Vedi R. Hadiz argues that competing strands of Islamic politics can be understood as the product of contemporary struggles over power, material resources and the result of conflict across a variety of social and historical contexts. Drawing from detailed case studies across the Middle East and Southeast Asia, the book engages with broader theoretical questions about political change in the context of socio-economic transformations and presents an innovative, comparative framework to shed new light on the diverse trajectories of Islamic politics in the modern world.

Oligarchic Cartelization in Post-Suharto Indonesia
Oligarchic Cartelization in Post-Suharto Indonesia

Author: Boni Hargens

Publisher: Dorrance Publishing

Published: 2021-12-20

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 163661471X

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Oligarchic Cartelization in Post-Suharto Indonesia By: Boni Hargens As detailed in Oligarchic Cartelization in Post-Suharto Indonesia, a few ruling individuals from party organizations overpowered Indonesia’s post-authoritarian, representative democracy. The legislative process of the 2017 Election Act was the case study employed to examine this assumption. The underlying thinking was that there was a contest between “wealth power” (oligarchy) and “participation power” (democracy). The power of wealth controls the party and government institutions. Notwithstanding the presence of participation power, there was, however, no balance between wealth power and participation power, because the formal control of politics was in the hands of party oligarchs. This study is purposed to bridge the gap in knowledge by exploring how the party oligarchs maintain the policymaking, reputedly using cartelized strategies, to defend the status quo. By employing the oligarchy and cartelization concepts, the central question of this inquiry focused on how the party oligarchs mastered the policy process in post-Suharto Indonesia. Qualitative findings indicated that the party oligarchs engineered the legal process in parliament applying cartelized strategies to defend privileges they obtained from collusive interpenetrations with the state. Understanding the “oligarchic cartelization” theoretical postulate is a fundamental step for party members to improve their performance in public offices. The results of this study can also be a useful reference for pro-democracy activists to defend the ontological essence of public participation in implementing representative democracy at an appropriate level.