What is the legacy of Egypt’s Arab Spring, 10 years on?

Democracy in Question?

10 years ago anti-government protests in Tunisia sparked a wave of spontaneous uprisings against authoritarian regimes in the Middle East and North Africa. The Arab Spring was met with repression by governments in the region, but ultimately led to the ousting of rulers such as Ben Ali in Tunisia, Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. But the hope that these changes would usher a new era of democracy in the region has been belied. Michael Wahid Hanna (International Crisis Group) helps us understand the turbulent events of 2011 in Egypt, what changes they led to and why prospects for democracy in the country still appear bleak.

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:

• The Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna: IWM

• The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD

• The Excellence Chair and Soft Authoritarianism Research Group in Bremen: WOC

• The Podcast Company: Earshot Strategies

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Citizenship and its Discontents: The Struggle for Rights, Pluralism and Inclusion in the Middle East. (2019). Co-edited with Thanassis Cambanis.

• Hybrid Actors: Armed Groups and State Fragmentation in the Middle East. (2010). Co-authored with Thanassis Cambanis.

• Arab Politics beyond the Uprisings: Experiments in an Era of Resurgent Authoritarianism. (2017). Co-authored with Thanassis Cambanis.

GLOSSARY

Who are Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and Muammar al-Gaddafi?

(00:01:15 or p. 2 in the transcript)

Ben Ali was a Tunisian politician who was the second President of Tunisia from 1987 until his fall in 2011 after the revolution of Tunisia. This revolution inspired uprisings in neighboring countries that came to be viewed as the Arab Spring. Ben Ali assumed the Presidency in 1987 in a bloodless coup d'état that ousted President Habib Bourguiba. Before his coup against Bourguiba, Ben Ali promised to move Tunisia towards democracy, but instead fixed elections that he won by majorities exceeding 90%, earning the nickname “Mr 99%”. He died 2019 in exile. Learn more.

Muammar al-Gaddafi was a highly divisive Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He governed Libya as Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then as the "Brotherly Leader" of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011. Amid the 2011 Arab Spring, protests against widespread corruption and unemployment broke out in Eastern Libya. The situation descended into civil war, in which NATO intervened militarily on the side of the anti-Gaddafist National Transitional Council. The government was overthrown and Gaddafi retreated to Sirte, only to be captured and killed by NTC militants. Learn more.

What is the Tahrir Square?

(00:01:15 or p. 2 in the transcript)

Tahrir Square in Cairo has been the location and focus for political demonstrations, most notably those that led to the 2011 Egyptian revolution and the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.

What is the Muslim Brotherhood and who is Mohamed Morsi?

(00:04:30 or p. 5 in the transcript)

The Muslim Brotherhood is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings spread far beyond Egypt, influencing today various Islamist movements from charitable organizations to political parties—not all using the same name.
In 2011 the Arab Spring revolution ousted Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president since 1981. Elections in June the following year brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power. The Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi became new president. Although in 2012 Mohamed Morsi became Egypt’s first democratically elected president, a year later he was overthrown by the military and held in prison on a series of convictions. In 2016 he was moved to the notorious Tora prison, near Cairo. He has died at the age of 67 after collapsing in court during a retrial of charges of espionage for the Palestinian Hamas organization. Learn more.

Who are Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar el-Sadat, and Hosni Mubarak?

(00:10:00 or p. 7 in the transcript)

Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was an Egyptian politician who served as the second President of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Learn more.

Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat was a close confidant of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, under whom he served as Vice President twice and whom he succeeded as president in 1970. He serves as President of Egypt until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers in 1981. Learn more.

Hosni Mubarak took power in 1981 after the assassination of Anwar el-Sadat. He was the second Arab leader to be toppled by the 2011 Arab Spring protests. He died in 2020. Click here and here to learn more.

As mentioned above, Mohamed Morsi from the Muslim Brotherhood became president next. In 2013 former general, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, seized power in a military coup that ousted the country’s only democratically elected government. Abdel Fatah as-Sisi has been President of Egypt since.

What happened in 1967?

(00:11:00 or p. 7 in the transcript)

The Six-Day War, also called June War or Third Arab-Israeli War or Naksah, is a brief war that took place June 5–10, 1967, and was the third of the Arab-Israeli wars. Click here and here to learn more.

Who is Abd al-Fattah as-Sisi?

(00:18:00 or p. 11 in the transcript)

In 2013 former general, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, seized power in a military coup that ousted the country’s only democratically elected government. Abdel Fatah as-Sisi has been President of Egypt since. Learn more.

Who was Habib Bourguiba?

(00:18:00 or p. 13 in the transcript)

Habib Bourguiba was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1987 as Prime minister of the Kingdom of Tunisia and then as the first President of Tunisia (1957–87). Prior to his presidency, he led the nation to independence from France. He was ousted by his abovementioned prime minister, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, who was himself overthrown decades later during the Arab Spring uprising in 2011. Learn more.