Securitising the new Egypt: Partisan vs. revolutionary demands

Abstract

ABSTRACT How did workers’ demands go from the mainstream of the Egyptian Revolution to the sidelines of authoritarian reconsolidation? Socioeconomic demands formed a key component of the protests of 2011 that removed the Hosni Mubarak regime, and the multi-year strikes and protests that preceded it. Despite this, political forces declared worker’s issues as ‘partisan’ demands. Leaders characterised workers’ demands as attacking a struggling state, being too narrow and threatening national unity at a time of crisis. This paper looks at how actors securitised so-called ‘partisan’ rhetoric following the 2011 revolution. We find that securitisation drives the content and the scope of post-revolutionary discourse.