2014 Theses Doctoral

Anatomy of a Revolution: the 2011 Egyptian Uprising

Bal, Mustafa

This dissertation offers a diachronic analysis of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. This study holds that, regardless of its sui generis nature, the January 2011 Egyptian Revolution became possible as a combined result of a sociopolitical transformation in the Egyptian society in roughly the last decade of Mubarak's rule and several contingent events that took place right before and during the January 25 events. Sociopolitical transformations in Egyptian society were conceptualized along two dimensions: 1) Gradual changes in Egyptian sociopolitical life that occurred particularly on the last decade of Mubarak regime, and 2) Paradigmatic changes that took place during the 18 days of protests. This ethnographic account of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution -with involved political processes and mechanisms; and human agency that transformed and was transformed by those mechanisms and processes- aspires to contribute to our understanding of 2011 Egyptian Revolution, and possibly revolutions in general, and the ensuing political crises that arise in transition periods after major political transformations.