The term ‘secular’ and its conceptual affiliates are doing a lot of work in misrepresenting the uprising in Egypt. ‘Secular’…
Myths of Mubarak
Uprising in Egypt
Reflections from scholars on the Egyptian revolution in 2011.
For a follow-up series, read “The future of Egyptian democracy” from 2014.
The dignity of Egyptian youth
No one expected this unfolding series of events—certainly, no one of my generation (those of us in our mid-forties), nor…
Space and resistance
It is illuminating to ponder the recent events in Cairo’s Midan al-Tahrir as we try to understand the relationship between…
The road to Tahrir
While the uprising in Egypt caught most observers of the Middle East off guard, it did not come out of…
Power, normality, revolution
The degree of success of the Egyptian revolution is still undecided as I write these lines. The situation is critical,…
Withdrawing consent
For the last month, we have been witnessing, in Tunisia and Egypt, the first revolution of the twenty-first century. We…
The elusive subject of revolution
Waking up to what looked like a new dawn, and not only in Egypt, a woman on Tahrir Square, who…
The science of people power: An interview with Gene Sharp
Gene Sharp is the foremost strategist of nonviolent social change alive today. He holds a doctorate in political theory from…
The power of a new political imagination
The Tunisian revolution, as a revolution of ordinary people, inspired the demonstrations in Egypt, leading to Mubarak’s fall. It has…
Islam and the compulsion of the political
Invariably, contemporary discussions of Islam seem to begin and end with the relationship between Islam and politics—both anti-Islamic pundits and…