The Egyptian Unfinished-Revolution: Between Youth, Generals & Islamists "BREAD, FREEDOM AND SOCIAL JUSTICE"

Abstract

The Egyptian 25th January Revolution 2011 will be marked in history as an important date not only for Egypt, but for the Arab region and the whole world alike, which never imagined that the thirty-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak would collapse in 18 days by young people through a peaceful revolution. However, Egypt is at a crucial turning point in its history, a point which will shape its future and the whole Arab region as Egypt is considered as a cornerstone of the region. After electing the first civilian president in 2012, a massive popular uprising hit nationwide on the presidential anniversary in 2013 calling the regime to step down. The number of people protesting was described by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as The largest number in a political event in the history of mankind. In response to this massive uprising, the armed forces deposed the president and gave power to Head of the Supreme Constitutional Court as interim president. It is worth noting that Egypt has passed an era of three presidents with military backgrounds since becoming a republic in 1953. The January Revolution of 2011 brought the first civilian president which was supposed to be a chance to move towards a new era of democracy, freedom and human rights. This new era will practically begin if the regime and people take positive and cooperative steps to seize the opportunity for passing this transitional period. Over two years of the glorification of a peaceful revolution, instability has shaped the scene socially, economically and politically. This instability can be attributed to disagreements and mismanagement carried between different parties of the revolution. Therefore, the study will contribute in two aspects

narrating the two-year revolution in an analytical perspective and analyzing the struggle and confrontation witnessed among the revolutions key players namely young people, military generals and Islamists. This aims to give an outlook on the increasing revolutionary gap that occurred between these parties. The study assumes that this revolutionary gap was the reason behind the instability that prevailed over the two year revolution which led to another massive uprising in 2013 and resulted in the overthrowing of the elected president. This thesis will answer the following questions

How the January 2011 Revolutions key players namely young people, military generals and Islamists have interacted during the two years revolution? Why the power diffusion and struggle among the key players led to an increasing revolutionary gap that resulted in the June 2013 Popular Uprising?