Egyptians started the 2011 revolution to topple a corrupt regime. Many brave souls fought and died in order to bring new dawn and guarantee people's freedom and guarantee democracy and the rule of law. Two years after the landmark January 25, 2011 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak from power, the political situation in Egypt has been marked-as much as anything-by divisiveness and polarization. The unity between all political forces that participated in the revolution, liberals and Islamists, broke down almost as soon as Mubarak was removed. The military controlled the country-to almost everyone's dissatisfaction-for over a year and half. The Islamists came to power at the end of June 2012 and now it is the Islamists and the largely secular forces in increasingly angry opposition. Egypt's economy is in very bad shape, prices are much higher than before the revolution, the Egyptian pound is under tremendous pressure, political bickering and fighting is at record high, and security has deteriorated. What went wrong and is there any hope for Egyptian democracy? Egypt Spring, a Rocky Road to Democracy addresses the Egypt Spring that started in January 2011, toppled Mubarak regimes and has been trying to build a new democratic system since then. The book will get into some details of the Egyptian political situation and the many mistakes, committed by all, that caused a very rocky road to democracy. Egypt Spring, a Rocky Road to Democracy addresses the role of education, social justice, and economical development in advancing democracy in Egypt. This book will address important steps needed badly to steer the way through robust and lasting democracy.

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.

In A Comparative Appraisal of Normative Power Ville Sinkkonen constructs a three-pronged analytical framework for the analysis of normative power, a theoretical concept recently associated with studying the international role of the European Union. This toolkit allows him to compare the foreign policy conduct of the EU and the United States in the context of the January 25th, 2011 Revolution in Egypt along three dimensions: ‘norms and identity’, ‘means’ and ‘paradoxes’. These components permit an in-depth analysis of Western norm promotion in the midst of the upheaval, building on a large pool of source documents. The monograph broadens the remit of normative power through its empirical bent, comparative research set-up and focus on a swiftly unfolding revolution/transition complex. In the process, the prevalent discourse of the EU as a benign international actor is subjected to rigorous analytical scrutiny.

Several years after the Arab Spring began, democracy remains elusive in the Middle East. The Arab Spring that resides in the popular imagination is one in which a wave of mass mobilization swept the broader Middle East, toppled dictators, and cleared the way for democracy. The reality is that few Arab countries have experienced anything of the sort. While Tunisia made progress towards some type of constitutionally entrenched participatory rule, the other countries that overthrew their rulers-Egypt, Yemen, and Libya-remain mired in authoritarianism and instability. Elsewhere in the Arab world uprisings were suppressed, subsided or never materialized. The Arab Spring's modest harvest cries out for explanation. Why did regime change take place in only four Arab countries and why has democratic change proved so elusive in the countries that made attempts? This book attempts to answer those questions. First, by accounting for the full range of variance: from the absence or failure of uprisings in such places as Algeria and Saudi Arabia at one end to Tunisia's rocky but hopeful transition at the other. Second, by examining the deep historical and structure variables that determined the balance of power between incumbents and opposition. Brownlee, Masoud, and Reynolds find that the success of domestic uprisings depended on the absence of a hereditary executive and a dearth of oil rents. Structural factors also cast a shadow over the transition process. Even when opposition forces toppled dictators, prior levels of socioeconomic development and state strength shaped whether nascent democracy, resurgent authoritarianism, or unbridled civil war would follow.

How violent events and autocratic parties trigger democratic change How do democracies emerge? Shock to the System presents a novel theory of democratization that focuses on how events like coups, wars, and elections disrupt autocratic regimes and trigger democratic change. Employing the broadest qualitative and quantitative analyses of democratization to date, Michael Miller demonstrates that more than nine in ten transitions since 1800 occur in one of two ways: countries democratize following a major violent shock or an established ruling party democratizes through elections and regains power within democracy. This framework fundamentally reorients theories on democratization by showing that violent upheavals and the preservation of autocrats in power—events typically viewed as antithetical to democracy—are in fact central to its foundation. Through in-depth examinations of 139 democratic transitions, Miller shows how democratization frequently follows both domestic shocks (coups, civil wars, and assassinations) and international shocks (defeat in war and withdrawal of an autocratic hegemon) due to autocratic insecurity and openings for opposition actors. He also shows how transitions guided by ruling parties spring from their electoral confidence in democracy. Both contexts limit the power autocrats sacrifice by accepting democratization, smoothing along the transition. Miller provides new insights into democratization’s predictors, the limited gains from events like the Arab Spring, the best routes to democratization for long-term stability, and the future of global democracy. Disputing commonly held ideas about violent events and their effects on democracy, Shock to the System offers new perspectives on how regimes are transformed.

A rigorous and comprehensive account of recent democratic transitions around the world From the 1980s through the first decade of the twenty-first century, the spread of democracy across the developing and post-Communist worlds transformed the global political landscape. What drove these changes and what determined whether the emerging democracies would stabilize or revert to authoritarian rule? Dictators and Democrats takes a comprehensive look at the transitions to and from democracy in recent decades. Deploying both statistical and qualitative analysis, Stephen Haggard and Robert Kaufman engage with theories of democratic change and advocate approaches that emphasize political and institutional factors. While inequality has been a prominent explanation for democratic transitions, the authors argue that its role has been limited, and elites as well as masses can drive regime change. Examining seventy-eight cases of democratic transition and twenty-five reversions since 1980, Haggard and Kaufman show how differences in authoritarian regimes and organizational capabilities shape popular protest and elite initiatives in transitions to democracy, and how institutional weaknesses cause some democracies to fail. The determinants of democracy lie in the strength of existing institutions and the public's capacity to engage in collective action. There are multiple routes to democracy, but those growing out of mass mobilization may provide more checks on incumbents than those emerging from intra-elite bargains. Moving beyond well-known beliefs regarding regime changes, Dictators and Democrats explores the conditions under which transitions to democracy are likely to arise.

Each of these eleven (11) print volumes contains the transcripts of Congressional investigative questioning and testimony of key personnel as part of the Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the 2012 Terror Attack in Benghazi's investigation into the attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi in September 2012 and related matters pursuant to House Resolution 567 of the 113th Congress and House Resolution 5 of the 114th Congress. A transcribed interview before this committee is not bound by the rules of evidence. Each person was informed that the individual may consult with their counsel during the interview and an official court reporter transcribed each interview. Some of the information in this report is "blacked out" as it may pertain to classified information or for protection of the person providing the testimony. Each person is asked the same questions relating to the handling of the situation as it pertains to former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and her role surrounding these events. Lastly, many of the interviews refer to specific Exhibits or documents for which the person answering the questions is requested to provide background information. Each of these exhibits that serve as primary source and historical documents are included within each volume. Check out our International & Foreign Affairs resources collection here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/international-foreign-affairs Security, Defense and Law Enforcement collection is here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/security-defense-law-enforcement

What were the unifying principles or strategies that governed the protest movements that swept the Middle East and North Africa in the spring of 2011? Who were the protestors and how did the different authoritarian regimes respond to them? How did regional and international institutions react to a region in turmoil? The Arab Spring and Arab Thaw; Unfinished Revolutions and the Quest for Democracy addresses these questions by examining a range of successful and unsuccessful protest strategies and counter revolutionary tactics employed by protestors and autocratic regimes. Contributors explore the reactions of the USA, EU and Arab League to events in the region and provide insight as to the gendered dimensions of the struggle along with the ethnic and tribal divisions that continue to impact the post-revolt period. By addressing these critical queries the book demonstrate how the Arab Spring has evolved into a protracted Arab Thaw that continues to profoundly affect regional and international politics.

Beginning in January 2011, the Arab world exploded in a vibrant demand for dignity, liberty, and achievable purpose in life, rising up against an image and tradition of arrogant, corrupt, unresponsive authoritarian rule. These previously unpublished, countryspecific case studies of the uprisings and their still unfolding political aftermaths identify patterns and courses of negotiation and explain why and how they occur. The contributors argue that in uprisings like the Arab Spring negotiation is "not just a 'nice' practice or a diplomatic exercise." Rather, it is a "dynamically multilevel" process involving individuals, groups, and states with continually shifting priorities--and with the prospect of violence always near. From that perspective, the essaysits analyze a range of issues and events--including civil disobedience and strikes, mass demonstrations and nonviolent protest, and peaceful negotiation and armed rebellion--and contextualize their findings within previous struggles, both within and outside the Middle East. The Arab countries discussed include Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen. The Arab Spring uprisings are discussed in the context of rebellions in countries like South Africa and Serbia, while the Libyan uprising is also viewed in terms of the negotiations it provoked within NATO. Collectively, the essays analyze the challenges of uprisers and emerging governments in building a new state on the ruins of a liberated state; the negotiations that lead either to sustainable democracy or sectarian violence; and coalition building between former political and military adversaries. Contributors: Samir Aita (Monde Diplomatique), Alice Alunni (Durham University), Marc Anstey* (Nelson Mandela University), Abdelwahab ben Hafaiedh (MERC), Maarten Danckaert (European-Bahraini Organization for Human Rights), Heba Ezzat (Cairo University), Amy Hamblin (SAIS), Abdullah Hamidaddin (King's College), Fen Hampson* (Carleton University), Roel Meijer (Clingendael), Karim Mezran (Atlantic Council), Bessma Momani (Waterloo University), Samiraital Pres (Cercle des Economistes Arabes), Aly el Raggal (Cairo University), Hugh Roberts (ICG/Tufts University), Johannes Theiss (Collège d'Europe), Sinisa Vukovic (Leiden University), I. William Zartman* (SAIS-JHU). [* Indicates group members of the Processes of International Negotiation (PIN) Program at Clingendael, Netherlands]

With studies on the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Syria, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia, this collection presents a theoretical framework on the study of women's empowerment amid the transformations that have shaped the social and political fabrics of Arab societies.