NOREF - Egypt: before and after

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Author

Virginie Collombier

Virginie Collombier is a researcher associated with the Arab Reform Initiative. An expert in Middle East politics, she received a PhD in Political Science from the University of Grenoble and a Master in Political Science from Sciences Po Paris. She has worked extensively on Egyptian politics...
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Tahir Square. Photo: Collin David Anderson (Flickr under CC license)

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Egypt: before and after

Virginie Collombier , 4 February 2011
Noref, 3 pages

Summary

Even before the current uprising began in Egypt, major changes in the political system had begun to threaten the stability of the Mubarak regime as the presidential succession became imminent. Constitutional reforms and electoral fraud could have resulted in a political deadlock in 2011. At the same time, the relative openness and freedom of expression that has emerged in Egypt since 2005 had laid the ground for new political movements to emerge and develop. Events in Tunisia, combined with a severe degradation of economic and social conditions in Egypt, and the growing perception that its citizens would have no say in the coming presidential succession, have created a favourable context for the unprecedented mobilization in Tahrir square.