The Egyptian revolution of January 25, 2011 as an anti-systemic movement

Amany Abdellatif Osman

doi:10.1108/jhass-11-2020-0211

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the Egyptian revolution as an anti-systemic movement. It illustrates how Egypt’s position in the world-economy has affected its political economy orientation and led to the marginalization of critical masses, who launched the revolution. Design/methodology/approach The paper follows Wallerstein’s world-system analysis focusing on the anti-systemic movement concept. The paper analyzes the Egyptian case based on Annales school’s longue durée concept, which is a perspective to study developments of social relations historically. Findings The Egyptian revolution was not only against the autocratic regime but also against the power structure resulting from the neoliberal economic policies, introduced as a response to the capitalism crisis. It represented the voice of the forgotten. The revolution was one of the anti-systemic movements resisting the manifestations of the capitalist world-economy. Originality/value This paper aims at proving that the Egyptian revolution was an anti-systemic movement; which will continue to spread as a rejection to the world-system and to aspire a more democratic and egalitarian world. The current COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating the crisis of the world-system.

Highlights

2011 was a year of revolt worldwide, what was called by occupy wall street “the 99%” against the growing inequality, corruption and undemocratic practices (Wallerstein, 2012)
The roots of the revolts went back to before December 2010, the events taking place in the Arab world started by Tunisia, followed by Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria imposed a major challenge to the widespread belief in Arab exceptionalism, which raises trails to understand the reasons behind these revolutions
This study focuses on the Egyptian revolution and its relation to the world-system

Summary

Introduction

2011 was a year of revolt worldwide, what was called by occupy wall street “the 99%” against the growing inequality, corruption and undemocratic practices (Wallerstein, 2012). The roots of the revolts went back to before December 2010, the events taking place in the Arab world started by Tunisia, followed by Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Syria imposed a major challenge to the widespread belief in Arab exceptionalism, which raises trails to understand the reasons behind these revolutions. In this context, despite the narrative that the current world-system led recently to improving the quality of life, we have been witnessing, according to Wallerstein, the eruption of anti-systemic movements around the world against inequality and undemocratic practices. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution

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Conclusion