On the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the uprising that overthrew Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, it seems to a casual observer that little has changed. In fact, writes Eric Trager, the years of upheaval have further eroded Egypt’s fragile social and political system; yet, for the time being, Egyptians prefer the continued rule of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to the alternatives:
[P]erhaps the most important reason for Sisi’s staying power is the popular mood, which is a cocktail of weariness and relief. Egyptians are exhausted after four years of tumult, but at the same time satisfied that their country hasn’t suffered the devastating chaos of Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen. So while many of the economic and demographic problems that caused the 2011 uprising haven’t been resolved, a critical mass of Egyptians now prefer their broken state to spinning the wheel again and risking further collapse.
That narrative, of course, flies in the face of the dominant narrative in Washington, which sees the “Arab Spring” as a democratizing moment that Egyptians betrayed when they rallied behind the military’s ouster of an elected president in July 2013. And, to be sure, that disappointment has merit: there is nothing democratic about Egypt’s post-Morsi trajectory, and the current regime’s severe repressiveness is a proper target for condemnation. But Washington should bear in mind that the romantic hopes that many Americans had for Egypt from 6,000 miles away entailed a great deal of pain for the Egyptians who lived with consequences of the January 2011 uprising. And four years later, the uprising’s ultimate impact is that many Egyptians are now too cautious to ask for more than they already have.
Read more on Washington Institute: http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/why-egyptians-dont-want-another-revolution