Copts in Egypt and their demands: between inclusion and exclusion

Abstract

This work rests on the assumption that to be a Copt is not equivalent to belonging to a specific religious sect. The term Copt refers to all Egyptian Christians. The article is an attempt to analyse the relationship between inclusion and exclusion policies and the nature of the Mubarak regime, the better to explain the nature of economic, social and political factors that led to many conspicuous social and economic imbalances and thence alienation and the appearance of social movements opposed to the state. Taking the Copts as a case study the work demonstrates that demands attributed to and/or defined as those of the Copts specifically are not necessarily an expression of minority or religious concerns so much as general citizen demands. The evidence presented is derived from a major study of the opinion of Coptic citizens towards political and economic demands. The purpose is to determine whether they are considered social, political and economic demands based on citizenship or on religious grounds. The research adopted a set of hypotheses to be confirmed or refuted through compiling and analysing the results of an empirically administered questionnaire.