Raging Against the Machine: Political Opposition Under Authoritarianism in Egypt

256 Pages·2013·2.14 MB·English

by  Holger Albrecht

Raging Against the Machine
Modern Intellectual and Political History of the Middle East
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Raging Against
the Machine
Political Opposition under
Authoritarianism in Egypt
Holger Albrecht
Syracuse University Press
Copyright © 2013 by Syracuse University Press
Syracuse, New York 13244-5290
All Rights Reserved
First Edition 2013
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visit our website at SyracuseUniversityPress.syr.edu.
ISBN: 978-0-8156-3320-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Albrecht, Holger, 1972–
Raging against the machine : political opposition under authoritarianism in Egypt /
Holger Albrecht. — First edition.
pages cm. — (Modern intellectual and political history of the Middle East)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8156-3320-4 (cloth : alkaline paper) 1. Egypt—Politics and government—1981–
2. Egypt—Politics and government—1970–1981. 3. Authoritarianism—Egypt. 4. Opposition
(Political science)—Egypt. 5. Political parties—Egypt. 6. Political culture—Egypt. I. Title.
DT107.87.A4225 2013
322.40962'09045—dc23 2013011607
Manufactured in the United States of America
For Peter Pawelka
Holger Albrecht is an assistant professor of Political Sci-
ence at the American University in Cairo (AUC). Prior to join-
ing AUC, he was a lecturer in the Political Science Department
of Tübingen University, Germany, and held a postdoctoral
research position at the Center for the Study of Democracy
at Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany. He was also a
visiting researcher at the Center for Contemporary Arab Stud-
ies at Georgetown University and a Jennings Randolph senior
fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, Washington, DC.
Holger’s main focus is on the relationship between authori-
tarian regimes in the Middle East and North Africa. He has
published numerous articles on authoritarianism and regime
change, state-society relations, political opposition, Islamist
movements, and the role of the military in politics. He is also
the editor of Contentious Politics in the Middle East (Univer-
sity Press of Florida, 2010) and fi ve other collective volumes
on authoritarian regimes, Middle East politics, Islamist move-
ments, and political opposition in the Middle East and North
Africa (MENA) region.
Contents
Acknowledgments (cid:2) ix
Note on Transliteration (cid:2) xiii
Abbreviations (cid:2) xv
Introduction (cid:2) xvii
1. Regime and Opposition

Two Schizophrenic Personalities (cid:2) 1
2. Loyal Opposition

The Opposition Party Cartel (cid:2) 38
3. Tolerated Opposition

Civil Society and Public Protest (cid:2) 60
4. Anti-System Opposition

The Islamist Challenge (cid:2) 97
5. Political Institutions between
Contestation and Control (cid:2) 128
6. The Transformation of Contentious Politics

Egypt after Mubarak (cid:2) 167
Glossary (cid:2) 185
Bibliography (cid:2) 187
Index (cid:2) 205