Why chaos in egypt

Some carried signs insisting that Mubarak immediately turn over power to more moderate members of his own regime, presumably to facilitate a swift and orderly transition. Others demanded a complete purge from government of all high ministers of state. Everyone I interviewed seemed to agree that the status quo was unworkable—but, beyond that, there seemed to be very little agreement on what practical arrangements should be made for the future.

And so, as the talking heads of the punditry forecast the future of the Egyptian state, I predict only this: Tomorrow will look very different from today. Skip Navigation. Protestors stand with a soldier as he waves an Egyptian flag on an army tank in Tahrir Square on January 29, in Cairo, Egypt. Today's theme is chaos. How McDonald's, Wendy's and other fast food brands are dealing with labor shortages. Ian Thomas. VIDEO Who is Rivian's billionaire founder R.

The prevalent literature reflects what took place in the wave of transitions to democracy in South America and Eastern Europe, as well as in many Asian and African countries.

However, more recently we have seen attempts at democratic transitions in instances in which the state itself has fragmented and collapsed, particularly in the Arab world. This happened in Iraq following the American occupation, as well as in Libya. Because the Qaddafi regime built a failed state, not a national state, the fall of the regime automatically meant the fall of the state.

In Libya today, although conflicting forces are conducting discussions, they do not have a state capable of protecting and guaranteeing what politicians may agree on. The same is happening in Yemen because of tribal and regional dominance over a weak state, and in Syria, where the state has been hijacked by a regime with a clear sectarian dimension. What is certain is that the Arab revolutions have reintroduced the question of the national state.

Is it possible to discuss democratic transition in the absence of a state? Can we ignore the fact that the principal reason that Egypt did not fall prey to chaos was the existence of a modern national state, founded by Muhammad Ali in ? Despite the criticism that Egyptian state institutions face, and the reforms they require, it is significant that the state was founded to rely on a state army, not a sectarian army or the army of a particular regime, and had a police apparatus rather than militias, along with a judicial branch and an administrative structure.

The cohesiveness of the national state and the national army protected Egypt from the dangers of fragmentation and collapse. In contrast to what occurred in many other Arab countries, Egyptians did not see clashes between brigades and divisions of the Egyptian army——whether during the January revolution, when the army stood neither in defense of Hosni Mubarak nor in confrontation with him, or during the Mohamed Morsi era, which failed to penetrate the army and break its hegemony.

Effectively, this translated into a split between supporters and opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood. If we are to accept that a national state is a primary condition for achieving a democratic transition, we find that the success of Tunisia is partly due to it as a national state that preserved its practices and neutrality, and partly due to its adoption of a sound political route following its revolution. This is exemplified by its establishment of constitutional and legal precepts before political contests began.

This is in contrast to Egypt, where the state protected the country from the fate of chaos and collapse but followed a convoluted political trajectory.

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