Coming in the wake of intense political and academic debate on the nature and development of the Arab Uprisings, Gramsci on Tahrir zeroes in on the complex dynamic of Egypt's revolution and counter-revolution. It shows how a Gramscian understanding of the revolutionary process provides a powerful instrument for charting the possibilities for an emancipatory project by the Egyptian subaltern classes.Central to De Smet's argument is Gramsci's interpretation of 'Caesarism', an occasion in which two evenly matched political opponents reach a potentially catastrophic stalemate; such an interplay between these forces can only end in mutual destruction. In applying this to the Egyptian revolution, we see how the Egyptian state was bereft of strong hegemonies and the people were replete with capable counter-hegemonies. The current situation in Egypt demonstrates how both national histories and global power relations enable, define and displace popular resistance and social transformation.

Examines the Arab Spring, seen as a series counter-revolutions, rather than failed revolutions, in six Arab countries.

How and why cities have become the predominant sites for revolutionary upheavals in the contemporary world Examining the changing character of revolution around the world, The Revolutionary City focuses on the impact that the concentration of people, power, and wealth in cities exercises on revolutionary processes and outcomes. Once predominantly an urban and armed affair, revolutions in the twentieth century migrated to the countryside, as revolutionaries searched for safety from government repression and discovered the peasantry as a revolutionary force. But at the end of the twentieth century, as urban centers grew, revolution returned to the city—accompanied by a new urban civic repertoire espousing the containment of predatory government and relying on visibility and the power of numbers rather than arms. Using original data on revolutionary episodes since 1900, public opinion surveys, and engaging examples from around the world, Mark Beissinger explores the causes and consequences of the urbanization of revolution in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Beissinger examines the compact nature of urban revolutions, as well as their rampant information problems and heightened uncertainty. He investigates the struggle for control over public space, why revolutionary contention has grown more pacified over time, and how revolutions involving the rapid assembly of hundreds of thousands in central urban spaces lead to diverse, ad hoc coalitions that have difficulty producing substantive change. The Revolutionary City provides a new understanding of how revolutions happen and what they might look like in the future.

In 2011 the world watched as Egyptians rose up against a dictator. Observers marveled at this sudden rupture, and honed in on the heroes of Tahrir Square. Revolutionary Egypt analyzes this tumultuous period from multiple perspectives, bringing together experts on the Middle East from disciplines as diverse as political economy, comparative politics and social anthropology. Drawing on primary research conducted in Egypt and across the world, this book analyzes the foundations and future of Egypt’s revolution. Considering the revolution as a process, it looks back over decades of popular resistance to state practices and predicts the waves still to come. It also confidently places Egypt’s revolutionary process in its regional and international contexts, considering popular contestation of foreign policy trends as well as the reactions of external actors. It draws connections between Egyptians’ struggles against domestic despotism and their reactions to regional and international processes such as economic liberalization, Euro-American interventionism and similar struggles further afield. Revolutionary Egypt is an essential resource for scholars and students of social movements and revolution, comparative politics, and Middle East politics, in particular Middle East foreign policy and international relations.

This “lucidly written” account of the 2011 wave of revolutions “includes a wealth of astute analysis on the politics of the region, from Morocco to Oman” (Paul Hockenos, The National). Sparked by the protest of a single vegetable seller in Tunisia, the flame of revolutionary passion swept across the Arab world in what has come to be called the Arab Spring of 2011. Millions took to the streets in revolt. The governments of Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya fell, other regimes remain embattled, and no corner of the region has escaped unchanged. Here, Middle East experts Lin Noueihed and Alex Warren explain the economic and political roots of the Arab Spring and assess the road ahead. Through research, interviews, and a wealth of firsthand experience, the authors explain the unique obstacles each country faces in maintaining stability. They analyze the challenges many Arab nations face in building democratic institutions, finding consensus on political Islam, overcoming tribal divides, and satisfying an insatiable demand for jobs. In an era of change and uncertainty, this insightful guide provides the first clear glimpse of the post-revolutionary future the Arab Spring set in motion.

This book considers the diverse forms of mass mobilization and contentious politics that emerged during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and its aftermath. Drawing on a catalogue of more than 8,000 protest events, as well as interviews, video footage and still photographs, Neil Ketchley provides the first systematic account of how Egyptians banded together to overthrow Husni Mubarak, and how old regime forces engineered a return to authoritarian rule. Eschewing top-down, structuralist and culturalist explanations, the author shows that the causes and consequences of Mubarak's ousting can only be understood by paying close attention to the evolving dynamics of contentious politics witnessed in Egypt since 2011. Setting these events within a larger social and political context, Ketchley sheds new light on the trajectories and legacies of the Arab Spring, as well as recurring patterns of contentious collective action found in the Middle East and beyond.

The millions of Egyptians who returned to the heart of Cairo and Egypt’s other major cities for 18 days until the eventual toppling of the Mubarak regime were orderly without an organisation, inspired without a leader, and single-minded without one guiding political ideology. This book examines the decade long of protest movements which created the context for the January 2011 mass uprising. It tells the story of Egypt’s long revolutionary process by exploring its genealogy in the decade before 25 January 2011and tracing its development in the three years that have followed. The book analyses new forms of political mobilisation that arose in response to ever-increasing grievances against authoritarian politics, deteriorating living conditions for the majority of Egyptians as a consequence of neo-liberal policies and the machinery of crony capitalism, and an almost total abandoning by the state of its responsibilities to society at large. It argues that the increasing societal pressures from different quarters such as labour groups, pro-democracy movements and ordinary citizens during this period culminated in an intensifying culture of protest and activism that was vital in the lead up to the dramatic overthrow of Mubarak. It, also, argues that the features of these new forms of activism and political mobilisation have contributed to shaping the political process since the downfall of Mubarak. Based on research undertaken since 2002, Egypt’s Long Revolution is an essential resource for scholars and researchers with an interest in social movements, comparative politics and Middle East Politics in general.

Egypt's democratic experiment has been derailed, but will her people remain committed to progressive change, and at what cost? Hellyer's first-hand knowledge of the country suggests the price will be high

Focusing on the 25 January 2011 Egyptian revolution, this book traces its affective and emotional dynamics into the local realties and everyday politics of the urban subaltern, exploring the impact of revolutionary participation on protestors' engagement in street politics. As well as investigating the affective dynamics of the revolution, the author analyses the spatiality of affect in the context of the Maspero Triangle neighbourhood, highlighting the disruption of the revolutionary moment and the evolution of informal political practices. In addition, the book focuses on state efforts to counter revolutionary street politics by co-opting and dismantling politicized local practices. It is argued that the appropriation by the state of the notion of the baltagi helped create narratives around 'thuggery' to undermine the politics of the urban poor. Based on empirical fieldwork, the book ultimately shows how the revolutionary moment informed subsequent local activism, illustrating that it was both disruptive and productive in terms of contentious street politics. Combining literature on affect and emotion, intersectional gender and everyday politics, the book yields innovative and renewed insights within the fields of political science and Middle East studies, and will prove valuable reading for anyone interested in the Egyptian revolution and its aftermath.

As the Egyptian revolution unfolded throughout 2011 and the ensuing years, no one was better positioned to comment on it—and try to push it in productive directions—than best-selling novelist and political commentator Alaa Al-Aswany. For years a leading critic of the Mubarak regime, Al-Aswany used his weekly newspaper column for Al-Masry Al-Youm to propound the revolution’s ideals and to confront the increasingly troubled politics of its aftermath. This book presents, for the first time in English, all of Al-Aswany’s columns from the period, a comprehensive account of the turmoil of the post-revolutionary years, and a portrait of a country and a people in flux. Each column is presented along with a context-setting introduction, as well as notes and a glossary, all designed to give non-Egyptian readers the background they need to understand the events and figures that Al-Aswany chronicles. The result is a definitive portrait of Egypt today—how it got here, and where it might be headed.