The world has seen a steady increase in revolutions, which have drastically altered the social and governmental structures. People who support revolutionary movements want to see equality in government and the economy, as well as structural changes. Millions of people have been enthralled by the French, American, and Russian revolutions while also appreciating their basic results. As a result, the fundamental principle driving revolutions is solely focused on making structural changes that are intended to win widespread support in order for the demonstration to be effective. The oppressive characteristics of President Mubarak's autocratic rule led to the 2011 Egyptian revolt. The revolt sought to usher in a more democratic government in place of Mubarak's. The revolution led to many casualties and shaped the future of the nation.
Causes of Egyptian Revolution of 2011
The Egyptians revolution of 2011 culminated from various reasons. Mubarak had signed many foreign policies which proved to lead the nation into devastating conditions. Mubarak had approved an agreement for peace with Israel and the US support. Additionally, the menacing political corruption that was rampantly propagated in Egypt, the high poverty rates coupled with the extraordinary level of unemployment primarily led to the Egyptian revolution of 2011. The decade before the occurrence of the revolution had seen a rapid formation of the revolution opposition groups. The Muslim Brotherhood profoundly played a key role in opposition to Mubarak’s rule. The group called for free elections in the country and made demands that the presidential elections must be democratic. Mubarak had succeeded in leading the nation for over thirty years because he did not face any opposition from any party. He led a single party election. Undisputedly, the idea of Mubarak being a single candidate in the elections made the majority of the citizens get upset and thus pursued ways of bringing the threatening problem to an end. Mubarak held political power and many citizens proposed for his removal in the office. Severe penalties were given to people who were against Mubarak’s regime and this included imprisonment, torture, and death (Haass 10). The internal security services heavily propagated pain to the citizens. The Muslim Brotherhood had significantly gained momentum and popularity in 2005 despite Mubarak having banned the group in the nation. In 2010, it was the first time Mubarak faced an opponent in the elections, and after Mubarak’s victory, he jailed his opponent on the charges of fraud.
In December 2010, there started to be an unprecedented number of protests in some of the Arabia countries. The demonstrations were against the political oppressions, corruption, and poverty as well as challenging the historical authority that had for a long time brought the pain. Indeed, the demonstrations that happen in the Arabian countries fueled a similar case to occur in Tunisia and Egypt. In December 2010, the first demonstration happened in Tunisia. A young man had set himself on fire because of the high unemployment rate, and people were angered by this fact. Additionally, the police presented to be extremely corrupt in Tunisia and rallies were carried out demanding for the president to step down. As the protests and violence escalated in Tunisia, the president was forced to make political and economic reforms aiming to end the continued national problem. However, his were unsuccessful. The protests worsened in Tunisia which made the president to flee the country. Undoubtedly, the success of the Tunisian uprising greatly impacted on the formation of the Egyptian revolution a few weeks later.
Numerous Egyptian youth groups did organize demonstrations comprising of the establishment of opposition parties in the country. The organizations set themselves in the capital city together with the large cities in the Egypt. The demonstrators called on President Mubarak to step down and also demanded democracy along with free elections. The protests rapidly gained strength, and in an effort of addressing the situation, President Mubarak sought to use violent actions against the demonstrations. The brutal tactics saw many people injured and many deaths resulted from the acts. The president also made a proposition of stepping down after ending his term, but the idea was not welcomed by the citizens. What followed was a three-week of mass demonstrations that made President Mubarak step down and even left the Egyptian military in control of the nation.
James DeFronzo Five Theoretical Factor of Revolutionary Movement
According to James DeFronzo, there are five crucial factors that lead to the development of a revolutionary movement and its success. They include:
Mass discontent that culminates to popular uprising
Divided elites of dissident political movements
Unifying motivations which unite the different social groups that are in support of revolution
Political crisis form the existing government including the loss of legitimacy and armed forces loyalty
Permissive World
High dissatisfaction typically culminates from one or a amalgamation of three factors comprising of shifts in the moral acceptance of the current situation such as social, economic or political and thus the quest for improved life. Secondly, declines in the living conditions of the nation and lastly a nation going through a period of improvement in the lives of people and a sharp downturn in the economy. The discounted preceding occurrence of a revolution is usually intensified through events that outrage numerous individuals. These factors could be violent government oppressions and violence. For discontent people to plan for a revolutionary movement, DeFronzo states that the citizens have to be convinced that the country’s problems threaten the nature of the society’s basic institution (DeFronzo 34). Definition of the situation through this parameters is necessarily significant in explaining the emerging revolutionary leadership which particularly arise from division among the elites. The elites consist of people having greater power and are culturally recognized with leadership abilities like intelligence, charisma, and talents. These elites also tend to be a wealthy and have massive influence. The development of dissident among the elites coupled with mass discontent leads to a possibility of revolutionary the creation.
The elite people provide organizational, and leadership factors to the angered masses in a revolution. This is also possible with the ideology that leads to the establishment of a foundation of unifying the different social groups in the revolutionary alliances. Ideology unification justifies the necessity for a revolution basing on the underlying reasons like free the citizens from dictatorial leadership that is oppressive or from foreign domination. Besides, Defronzo states that the deterioration of the legitimacy an oppressive capacity of the existing government is essential in providing an opportunity for an outcome of a revolution in an attempt to overcome the old systems. This happens particularly when the power that is in existence is seen to fail in addressing the major problems of the people and when it appears to be corrupt along with engagement in unjustified actions like violence. This lead to the alienation of wide sectors of the public and the armed forces (Defronzo 29). In the last crucial factor of the revolution involving the lack of intervention of other nations provides a revolution with a chance of succeeding.
James Defronzo Revolutionary Theory and Egyptian Revolution of 2011
Many revolutions have been experienced in the past century, and the world is significantly experiencing a new upsurge of revolution movements that sweep through the Northern part of Africa. This is mainly evident in nations that are characterized by the authoritative regime. The Egyptian Revolution of 2011 is one of the notable revolutionary movement that can be analyzed using the five factors of revolutionary movenment as postulated by DeFronzo. Mass discontent existed in Egypt for many decades owing to the unpleasant ruling regime of President Mubarak. The leadership was characterized by the brutality of the security forces, dictatorship, and emergency rule that led to dissatisfaction in people. As years passed, the displeasure of the people increased and became more potent particularly the years that followed the revolution. This was due to the effects of the perceived increasing inequality in the nation, segregation among the residents and the wealth inequality that mounted the disagreements in the nation. These divergences chiefly focused on the Egyptian foreign policy together with the growth of a portion of the highly educated young adults in the population that was unable to secure employment.
The majority of the mass protest was made by the young adults who felt that they were straining with the family obligations. Dunn reports that “Relatively secularly oriented, highly educated young people provided the initial leadership for the first major demonstrations against the Mubarak regime” (Dunn 42). The use of the social media primarily played a predominant role in the mobilization process of the citizens for the protest. There quests for a democratic political system and their contribution to the development of the new methods of organizing and informing the participants considerably fueled the revolutionary movement.
Amin provides a highlight of the importance of analyzing the Egyptian revolution centering on the actions that inspired people to protest. The Egypt citizens were encouraged by the success of the Tunisian revolt and thus started the 18-day revolutionary movement which saw the toppling of Hosni Mubarak who had led a destructive leadership for more than thirty years (Amin 39). The need for the change from the autocratic leadership made thousands and thousands of citizens to gather at Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. Joya indicates that an uprising gained momentum “From Cairo to Alexandria, from Suez to Luxor” lasting for 18 days until when Mubarak stepped down from power in 2011 11th of February (Joya 12). His fall was followed with Mubarak and his senior members being put on trials of corruption and killings and thus their subsequent sentencing. Amin designates that, the “Egypt was ripe for revolution; the dramatic change would have come at some point in the next few years, even absent the spark of Tunisia or the existence of social media (Amin 8). Indeed, the revolutionary movement combined central political dimensions of injustice, dictatorship, corruption, military power, changes in the regime and censorship. Additionally, the need to address the human rights and stop abuse, political and religious tensions all culminated into the Egyptian revolution. All these factors propelled the fate of Mubarak which eventually saw his downfall. The violence that was perpetrated by Mubarak had a wider implication to the society
Additionally, the election of President Obama played a key role in the eruption of the “pro-democracy” protesting through the signing of the advent of world permissiveness (Amin 16). In the few months after President Obama took office, he delivered an address to Cairo in 2009 4th of June addressing the Islamic people around the world and explaining the powerful endorsement of the indigenous democratic aspiration as an important factor of human rights. The speech that President Obama made “convinced many that there was a realistic opportunity for democratic movements” to achieve their objectives despite the threat that arose from the pro-American authoritarian regimes (Dunn 15).
Notably, the outcomes of the Egyptian revolution of 2011 are more devastating. The idea that wealth was only concentrated to a few masses while the other lived in poverty angered many of the young people. The interests of the military forces also provided barriers to full democratization. The high economic inequalities particularly evident in the previous five years before the occurrence of the revolution fueled the economic goals that led to the mass mobilization for the revolutionary process. Egypt was plagued with social injustices and autocratic leadership regime which was not appealing to the people and thus the need for change. Undoubtedly, the enormous wealth concentration in the realms of the region’s oil richest areas of the country was an insightful wheel behind the revolutionary wave. There was no significant redistribution of energy revenue in the nation, and thus the economic grievances of the people in the area were not heard by the leadership, and therefore, the outcome was to address it using the revolution.
Conclusion
The future of Egypt came as a result of the 18-day revolution which accomplished in opposing the brutality, corruption, and nepotism that was continued by the Mubarak regime. The revolution provided hope to the citizens in attaining freedom and social justice. The 18 days prove to be vital in realizing social transformation in the nation. Throughout historical records, revolutions have been one of the key features that bring changes in oppressive leaderships. Defronzo presents the reader with his theoretical framework in a more understanding manner through identifying the five critical revolutionary factors. They include “mass discontent, dissident elites, unifying motives, weakening of the more revolutionary state and permissive world state” are the fundamental framework for explaining why revolutions happen (Defronzo 9). All these five theoretical frameworks worked towards recognizing the change in the Egyptian leadership which was under the directorial reign of Mubarak.
Works Cited
Amin, G. A. Egypt in the era of Hosni Mubarak 1981-2011, London, American University of Cairo Press. 2011.
DeFronzo, James. Revolutions And Revolutionary Movements. Boulder, Colo., Westview Press, 2007.
Dunn, J. Modern revolutions: an introduction to the analysis of a political phenomenon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2007.
Haass, R. N. ‘Reflections on the Revolution in Egypt’, pp. 115-118 in Rose, G. (ed.), 2011, The New Arab Revolt: What Happened, What It Means and What Comes Next, New York: Council on Foreign Relations. 2011.
Joya, A. The Egyptian Revolution: crisis of neoliberalism and the potential for democratic politics, Review of African Political Economy, 38(3), pp.367-386. 2011.
