Muslim Brotherhood -- Arab Spring in Egypt
The Arab Spring of 2010, in which angry citizens in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen took to the streets by the hundreds of thousands to demand changes, did not always result in the positive changes envisioned by the demonstrators. In Egypt, the chaos associated with the revolution that overthrew the dictator, Muhammed Husni Mubarak, did not end in a positive situation for citizens. In Ellen Lusk's book The Middle East, she points out that notwithstanding the demand for reforms, causing some, including Tunisia President Ben Ali, to quickly depart the country in January 11, 2010, and other leaders to step down, transitions in Libya, Syria and Yemen "deteriorated into civil war" (Lusk, 2016).
The flood of refugees fleeing the violence was significant as terrified citizens arrived in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Tunisia, Lusk explains. In a dramatic shift that has taken place over a few years, this Middle Eastern region that has been associated with "Islam, Israel, oil and authoritarianism" is today seen as being associated with "revolution, civil war, refugees and radical extremism" (Lusk).
The chapter "Egypt" points out the country has more than 81 million people, and it represents "practically every social, intellectual, and political movement" in the Arab world (Masoud, 2016). The author, an associate professor of International Relations at Harvard University, writes that Egypt makes up roughly a fourth of population of the Arab world. Egypt, Masoud explains, was the "first in war" (fighting Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973), and was "first in peace" by recognizing Israel as a Jewish state in 1978.
Masoud explains that the Egyptian revolution would likely not have...
But five years after the Arab Spring was launched there are still unsolved political problems and unsettled citizens wishing for democratic reforms.
In fact, shortly after Mubarak was overthrown, power in Egypt was seized by an "interim government of military generals" (The Supreme Council of Armed Forces) and not long after that Egypt held democratic elections in parliament and in the cities (Masoud, 2016). The exercise in democracy was "doomed" however during those elections in 2011 and 2012 because grabbing power in Egypt was done by " ... a collection of illiberal, Islamist parties led by a semisecret religious society call the Muslim Brotherhood" (Masoud).
Question ONE: Why did many Egyptians turn against the Muslim Brotherhood?
The Muslim Brotherhood (a "semi-secret religious society") was not politically and socially sophisticated enough to provide the leadership that Egypt needed at that time -- and that is perhaps an understatement. Listening to and watching the video "Egypt after Morsi" it is clear that because the citizens were so upset, violently so in some situations, the army decided to launch a violent crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood in July, 2013. "Popular discontent" was the reason the army finally stepped in, Masoud explains. Even though the video features loud noises, voices raised in anger and interviews conducted with an annoying amount of background noise (due to the anger and chaos), the viewer is presented with the anger, fear and resentment of members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
"Sectarian tensions were destroying…
