Behind every Caesar a new one? Reflections on revolution and counter-revolution in Egypt in response to Gramsci on Tahrir

Abstract

SUMMARYFocusing on the political ramifications of the concepts and historical analysis deployed in Gramsci on Tahrir (De Smet 2016), Anne Alexander and Sameh Naguib challenge Brecht De Smet’s reading of the development of capitalism and the 2011 revolution in Egypt through the lens of Caesarism, offering an alternative perspective on how the theory of permanent revolution can be applied in the Egyptian case as a tool for understanding why a revolution erupted in 2011 and why it took the course it did.