Academic literature on the topic 'Egypt – Politics and government – 21th century'

Abstract Despite the massive research carried out on Egyptian nationalism and its ideological premises in the first half of the 20th century, little is known on the copious political memoirs composed and published in the same period and on their contribution to the development of a nationalist discourse in its strict sense. Among these “political autobiographies”, the Muḏakkirāt fī l-siyāsah al-miṣriyyah (Memoirs on Egyptian Politics) by Muḥammad Ḥusayn Haykal played a crucial role in the dissemination of a shared sense of identity based on the nation-state. By performing the act of remembering, Haykal continually reshapes the boundaries of his community and questions the inner meaning and the long-term impact of concepts drawn from the liberal-democratic ideology, such as “freedom”, “justice”, “equality”, on the Egyptian system of government and socio-cultural context. This study will therefore attempt to unveil the ‘sense of community’ conveyed by Haykal’s political memoirs by following the theory of Benedict Anderson on the nation defined as an imagined community.

On some peculiarities of evolution of the contemporary Russian political system The article deals with the problem of Russian political system evolution at the turn of the 20th and 21th centuries. The author attempts to answer the following question: if contemporary Russian state system does not fit a classical model of liberal democracy, is it reasonable to talk about hopeless stagnation of political system in Russia, generated by the process of new bureaucratic deformation, or is it possible to outline some tendencies of Russian state system evolution that fit the process of global degradation of democratic institutions in every region all over the world without any exceptions? The answer implies a quite important verification and statement concerning the situation: does the level of political government in Russian „imperial center” meet that contemporary criteria, obeyed in the development of civilized states. At the beginning of the 21st century, after long period of chaotic decentralization, Russia has entered the stage, when the federal center attempts to „establish order” in the country by means of tough administrative decisions. New stage of Russian politics connected with the Ukrainian crisis and the referendum in the Crimea signifies the explicit tendency of political elite to start a new page of national history.

Egypt of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has long been a focus for study by social scientists and humanists of various disciplines. To an extensive bibliography is now added a unique work of social history that explores the lives of Egypt's poor and the shifting attitudes toward them over 150 years. Mine Ener has written an account of how the poor of Cairo and Alexandria negotiated assistance from traditional institutions and government agencies alike, and how the nature of institutions offering assistance changed during this time. She posited that, for much of this period, the attitude of successive Egyptian governments toward the poor was one infused with an Islamic ethos of charity and informed by shifting political concerns. Continuous evidence of government behavior—from Mehmet Ali Pasha in the early nineteenth century to King Farouk in the mid-twentieth—demonstrates that the source of charity was never thoroughly depersonalized. Each one claimed to be the source of assistance and couched his claims in the language of the concerned and conscientious Muslim ruler.

This work is by a serious scholar who had previously written a fine book on peasant politics in Egypt. Interest in constitutionalism in the Arab world may be dismissed as naive given the notorious reputation of the region for autocracy and dictatorships. Yet Nathan Brown insists on taking constitutional developments in the region seriously, and he meticulously covers most constitutional developments over the span of the last century. But the book could have been easily condensed into a scholarly article. In the first part of the book, for example, which stretches into page 94, he provides the reader with a blow-by-blow account of constitutional developments in select Middle East countries. It contains very few insights, and the author breaks no new grounds; the developments were previously covered in many other works (for example, Elie Kedourie, Politics in the Middle East, 1992).

The author is a Professor of Local Government and Urban Studies at the Faculty of Political Science , Ankara University and Eastern Mediterranean University. He served as Director of the Ernst Reuter Center for Urban Studies as well as Director of the Center for Environmental Studies, Ankara University for many years. His numerous publications include The Politics of Rapid Urbanization: Government and Growth in Modern Turkey (New York , Holmes and Meier, 1985), Housing and the Urban Poor in the Middle East: Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Morocco (Tokyo, IDE, 1986), Urban Management in Turkey (Ankara, Turkish Social Science Association, 1988), Urban Poverty in the Third World: Theoretical Approaches and Policy Options Tokyo (IDE, 1988). Dr Keleş has been a correspondent of Ekistics since 1965. He is a member of the World Society for Ekistics (WSE) and has also served as a member of its Executive Council. The text that follows is a slightly edited and revised version of a paper presented at the WSE Symposion "Defining Success of the City in the 21st Century," Berlin, 24-28 October, 2001.

Muhammad Mitwalli Sha?r?w? (1911–1998) was a Muslim religious scholar (s. ?alim, p. ?ulama?) who worked in an official capacity for the Egyptian government, and gained celebrity through his televised Quranic interpretations. By the time Sha?r?w? began his television career, Al-Azhar, the premier institution for training Sunni ?ulama?, was fully integrated into the apparatus of the Egyptian Republic, which made it easy for the state to solicit the help of ?ulama? like Sha?r?w? in its nation-building project. Sha?r?w? used Islam to bring forth a new sense of belonging, but his language about national belonging clashed with his exclusivist religious language. By looking at the attempted construction of national identity over time, this article charts the negotiation between religion and politics in late twentieth century Egypt where religion was not ousted from public discussion, but was subject to institutionalized restrictions, and allowed continuities in order to support national inclusivity.

The emergence of Islam influenced the revolution and made a wave of culture toward a new world when experiencing an era of darkness. The progress of Greek civilization in the West could not be continued by the Roman empire and Roman domination in the classical era until the middle ages; which was then the rise of the West in the era of renaissance in the 14-16th century. This paper will reveal the influence of Islam on the development of the Western world, since the emergence of contact between Islam with the West in the Classical era until the middle ages. There are different opinions among historians about who and when the first contact between Islam and the West took place. The first contact, however, occurred when the areas of East Roman government (Byzantium), Syria (638) and Egypt (640) fell into the hands of the Islamic government during the reign of Caliph 'Umar bin Khaţţāb. The Second contact, at the beginning of the eighth and ninth centuries occurred when the kings of Islam were able to rule Spain (711-1472), Portugal (716-1147), and important Mediterranean islands such as Sardinia (740-1050), Cicilia (827-1091), Malta (870-1090) as well as several small areas in Southern Italy and French Southern France. The third contact, took place in Eastern Europe from the fourteenth to early twentieth century when the Ottoman empire ruled the Balkan peninsula (Eastern Europe) and Southern Russia. The Ottoman empire's powers in Europe covered Yunāni, Bulgaria, Albania, Romania, Yugoslavia, Hungary, parts of Rhode, Cyprus, Austria and parts of Russia. Of the three periods of contact, the greatest influence was in the second contact period, where the decline of Western science in the dark era, while in the Islamic world developed advanced and produces scientists, thinkers and intellectuals in various sciences. This influence can be seen from the sending of students studying to the university of Islamic area, the establishment of the university, the translation and copying of various scientific literature such as natural science (Science of astronomy, Mathematics, Chemistry, Pharmacy, medicine, architecture etc) and Social Science history, philosophy, politics, economics, earth sciences, sociology, law, culture, language, literature, art, etc.). The Historians recognize that the influence of Islamic civilization is very great on the development of the West, which culminated in the renaissance or rise of Western civilization in Europe after the dark era.

The emergence of Islam influenced the revolution and made a wave of culture toward a new world when experiencing an era of darkness. The progress of Greek civilization in the Westcould not be continued by the Roman empire and Roman domination in the classical era until the middle ages; which was then therise of the West in the era of renaissance in the 14-16th century.This paper will reveal the influence of Islam on the development of the Western world, since the emergence of contact between Islam with the West in the Classical era until the middle ages. There are different opinions among historians about who and when the first contact between Islam and the West took place. The first contact, however, occurred when the areas of East Roman government (Byzantium), Syria (638) and Egypt (640) fell into the hands of the Islamic government during the reign of Caliph 'Umar bin Khaţţāb. The Second contact, at the beginning of the eighth and ninth centuries occurred when the kings of Islam were able to rule Spain (711-1472), Portugal (716-1147), and important Mediterranean islands such as Sardinia (740-1050), Cicilia (827-1091), Malta (870-1090) as well as several small areas in Southern Italy and French Southern France. The third contact, took place in Eastern Europe from the fourteenth to early twentieth century when the Ottoman empire ruled the Balkan peninsula (Eastern Europe) and Southern Russia. The Ottoman empire's powers in Europe covered Yunāni, Bulgaria, Albania, Romania, Yugoslavia, Hungary, parts of Rhode, Cyprus, Austria and parts of Russia. Of the three periods of contact, the greatest influence was in the second contact period, where the decline of Western science in the dark era, while in the Islamic world developed advanced and produces scientists, thinkers and intellectuals in various sciences. This influence can be seen from the sending of students studying to the university of Islamic area, the establishment of the university, the translation and copying of various scientific literature such as natural science (Science of astronomy, Mathematics, Chemistry, Pharmacy, medicine, architecture etc) and Social Science history, philosophy, politics, economics, earth sciences, sociology, law, culture, language, literature, art, etc.). The Historians recognize that the influence of Islamic civilization is very great on the development of the West, which culminated in the renaissance or rise of Western civilization in Europe after the dark era.

This paper aims to portray the overall picture of poverty in the world and mentions the key solution to overcome poverty from a critical perspective. The data and figures were quoted from a number of researchers and organizations in the field of poverty around the world. Simultaneously, the information strengthens the correlations among poverty and lack of education. Only appropriate philosophies of education can improve the country’s socio-economic conditions and contribute to effective solutions to worldwide poverty. In the 21st century, despite the rapid development of science and technology with a series of inventions brought into the world to make life more comfortable, human poverty remains a global problem, especially in developing countries. Poverty, according to Lister (2004), is reflected by the state of “low living standards and/or inability to participate fully in society because of lack of material resources” (p.7). The impact and serious consequences of poverty on multiple aspects of human life have been realized by different organizations and researchers from different contexts (Fraser, 2000; Lister, 2004; Lipman, 2004; Lister, 2008). This paper will indicate some of the concepts and research results on poverty. Figures and causes of poverty, and some solutions from education as a key breaker to poverty will also be discussed. Creating a universal definition of poverty is not simple (Nyasulu, 2010). There are conflicts among different groups of people defining poverty, based on different views and fields. Some writers, according to Nyasulu, tend to connect poverty with social problems, while others focus on political or other causes. However, the reality of poverty needs to be considered from different sides and ways; for that reason, the diversity of definitions assigned to poverty can help form the basis on which interventions are drawn (Ife and Tesoriero, 2006). For instance, in dealing with poverty issues, it is essential to intervene politically; economic intervention is very necessary to any definition of this matter. A political definition necessitates political interventions in dealing with poverty, and economic definitions inevitably lead to economic interventions. Similarly, Księżopolski (1999) uses several models to show the perspectives on poverty as marginal, motivation and socialist. These models look at poverty and solutions from different angles. Socialists, for example, emphasize the responsibilities of social organization. The state manages the micro levels and distributes the shares of national gross resources, at the same time fighting to maintain the narrow gap among classes. In his book, Księżopolski (1999) also emphasizes the changes and new values of charity funds or financial aid from churches or organizations recognized by the Poor Law. Speaking specifically, in the new stages poverty has been recognized differently, and support is also delivered in limited categories related to more specific and visible objectives, with the aim of helping the poor change their own status for sustainable improvement. Three ways of categorizing the poor and locating them in the appropriate places are (1) the powerless, (2) who is willing to work and (3) who is dodging work. Basically, poverty is determined not to belong to any specific cultures or politics; otherwise, it refers to the situation in which people’s earnings cannot support their minimum living standard (Rowntree, 1910). Human living standard is defined in Alfredsson & Eide’s work (1999) as follows: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” (p. 524). In addition, poverty is measured by Global Hunger Index (GHI), which is calculated by the International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI) every year. The GHI measures hunger not only globally, but also by country and region. To have the figures multi-dimensionally, the GHI is based on three indicators: 1. Undernourishment: the proportion of the undernourished as a percentage of the population (reflecting the share of the population with insufficient calorie intake). 2. Child underweight: the proportion of children under age 5 who are underweight (low weight for their age, reflecting wasting, stunted growth or both), which is one indicator of child under-nutrition. 3. Child mortality: the mortality rate of children under 5 (partially reflecting the fatal synergy of inadequate dietary intake and unhealthy environments). Apart from the individual aspects and the above measurement based on nutrition, which help partly imagine poverty, poverty is more complicated, not just being closely related to human physical life but badly affecting spiritual life. According to Jones and Novak (1999 cited in Lister, 2008), poverty not only characterizes the precarious financial situation but also makes people self-deprecating. Poverty turns itself into the roots of shame, guilt, humiliation and resistance. It leads the poor to the end of the road, and they will never call for help except in the worst situations. Education can help people escape poverty or make it worse. In fact, inequality in education has stolen opportunity for fighting poverty from people in many places around the world, in both developed and developing countries (Lipman, 2004). Lipman confirms: “Students need an education that instills a sense of hope and possibility that they can make a difference in their own family, school, and community and in the broader national and global community while it prepare them for multiple life choices.” (p.181) Bradshaw (2005) synthesizes five main causes of poverty: (1) individual deficiencies, (2) cultural belief systems that support subcultures of poverty, (3) economic, political and social distortions or discrimination, (4) geographical disparities and (5) cumulative and cyclical interdependencies. The researcher suggests the most appropriate solution corresponding with each cause. This reflects the diverse causes of poverty; otherwise, poverty easily happens because of social and political issues. From the literature review, it can be said that poverty comes from complex causes and reasons, and is not a problem of any single individual or country. Poverty has brought about serious consequences and needs to be dealt with by many methods and collective effort of many countries and organizations. This paper will focus on representing some alarming figures on poverty, problems of poverty and then the education as a key breaker to poverty. According to a statistics in 2012 on poverty from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), nearly half the world's population lives below the poverty line, of which is less than $1.25 a day . In a statistics in 2015, of every 1,000 children, 93 do not live to age 5 , and about 448 million babies are stillborn each year . Poverty in the world is happening alarmingly. According to a World Bank study, the risk of poverty continues to increase on a global scale and, of the 2009 slowdown in economic growth, which led to higher prices for fuel and food, further pushed 53 million people into poverty in addition to almost 155 million in 2008. From 1990 to 2009, the average GHI in the world decreased by nearly one-fifth. Many countries had success in solving the problem of child nutrition; however, the mortality rate of children under 5 and the proportion of undernourished people are still high. From 2011 to 2013, the number of hungry people in the world was estimated at 842 million, down 17 percent compared with the period 1990 to 1992, according to a report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) titled “The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2013” . Although poverty in some African countries had been improved in this stage, sub-Saharan Africa still maintained an area with high the highest percentage of hungry people in the world. The consequences and big problems resulting from poverty are terrible in the extreme. The following will illustrate the overall picture under the issues of health, unemployment, education and society and politics ➢ Health issues: According a report by Manos Unidas, a non- government organization (NGO) in Spain , poverty kills more than 30,000 children under age 5 worldwide every day, and 11 million children die each year because of poverty. Currently, 42 million people are living with HIV, 39 million of them in developing countries. The Manos Unidas report also shows that 15 million children globally have been orphaned because of AIDS. Scientists predict that by 2020 a number of African countries will have lost a quarter of their population to this disease. Simultaneously, chronic drought and lack of clean water have not only hindered economic development but also caused disastrous consequences of serious diseases across Africa. In fact, only 58 percent of Africans have access to clean water; as a result, the average life expectancy in Africa is the lowest in the world, just 45 years old (Bui, 2010). ➢ Unemployment issues: According to the United Nations, the youth unemployment rate in Africa is the highest in the world: 25.6 percent in the Middle East and North Africa. Unemployment with growth rates of 10 percent a year is one of the key issues causing poverty in African and negatively affecting programs and development plans. Total African debt amounts to $425 billion (Bui, 2010). In addition, joblessness caused by the global economic downturn pushed more than 140 million people in Asia into extreme poverty in 2009, the International Labor Organization (ILO) warned in a report titled The Fallout in Asia, prepared for the High-Level Regional Forum on Responding to the Economic Crisis in Asia and the Pacific, in Manila from Feb. 18 to 20, 2009 . Surprisingly, this situation also happens in developed countries. About 12.5 million people in the United Kingdom (accounting for 20 percent of the population) are living below the poverty line, and in 2005, 35 million people in the United States could not live without charity. At present, 620 million people in Asia are living on less than $1 per day; half of them are in India and China, two countries whose economies are considered to be growing. ➢ Education issues: Going to school is one of the basic needs of human beings, but poor people cannot achieve it. Globally, 130 million children do not attend school, 55 percent of them girls, and 82 million children have lost their childhoods by marrying too soon (Bui, 2010). Similarly, two-thirds of the 759 million illiterate people in total are women. Specifically, the illiteracy rate in Africa keeps increasing, accounting for about 40 percent of the African population at age 15 and over 50 percent of women at age 25. The number of illiterate people in the six countries with the highest number of illiterate people in the world - China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Bangladesh and Egypt - reached 510 million, accounting for 70 percent of total global illiteracy. ➢ Social and political issues: Poverty leads to a number of social problems and instability in political systems of countries around the world. Actually, 246 million children are underage labors, including 72 million under age 10. Simultaneously, according to an estimate by the United Nations (UN), about 100 million children worldwide are living on the streets. For years, Africa has suffered a chronic refugee problem, with more than 7 million refugees currently and over 200 million people without homes because of a series of internal conflicts and civil wars. Poverty threatens stability and development; it also directly influences human development. Solving the problems caused by poverty takes a lot of time and resources, but afterward they can focus on developing their societies. Poverty has become a global issue with political significance of particular importance. It is a potential cause of political and social instability, even leading to violence and war not only within a country, but also in the whole world. Poverty and injustice together have raised fierce conflicts in international relations; if these conflicts are not satisfactorily resolved by peaceful means, war will inevitably break out. Obviously, poverty plus lack of understanding lead to disastrous consequences such as population growth, depletion of water resources, energy scarcity, pollution, food shortages and serious diseases (especially HIV/AIDS), which are not easy to control; simultaneously, poverty plus injustice will cause international crimes such as terrorism, drug and human trafficking, and money laundering. Among recognizable four issues above which reflected the serious consequences of poverty, the third ones, education, if being prioritized in intervention over other issues in the fighting against poverty is believed to bring more effectiveness in resolving the problems from the roots. In fact, human being with the possibility of being educated resulted from their distinctive linguistic ability makes them differential from other beings species on the earth (Barrow and Woods 2006, p.22). With education, human can be aware and more critical with their situations, they are aimed with abilities to deal with social problems as well as adversity for a better life; however, inequality in education has stolen opportunity for fighting poverty from unprivileged people (Lipman, 2004). An appropriate education can help increase chances for human to deal with all of the issues related to poverty; simultaneously it can narrow the unexpected side-effect of making poverty worse. A number of philosophies from ancient Greek to contemporary era focus on the aspect of education with their own epistemology, for example, idealism of Plato encouraged students to be truth seekers and pragmatism of Dewey enhanced the individual needs of students (Gutex, 1997). Education, more later on, especially critical pedagogy focuses on developing people independently and critically which is essential for poor people to have ability of being aware of what they are facing and then to have equivalent solutions for their problems. In other words, critical pedagogy helps people emancipate themselves and from that they can contribute to transform the situations or society they live in. In this sense, in his most influential work titled “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” (1972), Paulo Freire carried out his critical pedagogy by building up a community network of peasants- the marginalized and unprivileged party in his context, aiming at awakening their awareness about who they are and their roles in society at that time. To do so, he involved the peasants into a problem-posing education which was different from the traditional model of banking education with the technique of dialogue. Dialogue wasn’t just simply for people to learn about each other; but it was for figuring out the same voice; more importantly, for cooperation to build a social network for changing society. The peasants in such an educational community would be relieved from stressfulness and the feeling of being outsiders when all of them could discuss and exchange ideas with each other about the issues from their “praxis”. Praxis which was derived from what people act and linked to some values in their social lives, was defined by Freire as “reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it” (p.50). Critical pedagogy dialogical approach in Pedagogy of the Oppressed of Freire seems to be one of the helpful ways for solving poverty for its close connection to the nature of equality. It doesn’t require any highly intellectual teachers who lead the process; instead, everything happens naturally and the answers are identified by the emancipation of the learners themselves. It can be said that the effectiveness of this pedagogy for people to escape poverty comes from its direct impact on human critical consciousness; from that, learners would be fully aware of their current situations and self- figure out the appropriate solutions for their own. In addition, equality which was one of the essences making learners in critical pedagogy intellectually emancipate was reflected via the work titled “The Ignorant Schoolmaster” by Jacques Rancière (1991). In this work, the teacher and students seemed to be equal in terms of the knowledge. The explicator- teacher Joseph Jacotot employed the interrogative approach which was discovered to be universal because “he taught what he didn’t know”. Obviously, this teacher taught French to Flemish students while he couldn’t speak his students’ language. The ignorance which was not used in the literal sense but a metaphor showed that learners can absolutely realize their capacity for self-emancipation without the traditional teaching of transmission of knowledge from teachers. Regarding this, Rancière (1991, p.17) stated “that every common person might conceive his human dignity, take the measure of his intellectual capacity, and decide how to use it”. This education is so meaningful for poor people by being able to evoking their courageousness to develop themselves when they always try to stay away from the community due the fact that poverty is the roots of shame, guilt, humiliation and resistance (Novak, 1999). The contribution of critical pedagogy to solving poverty by changing the consciousness of people from their immanence is summarized by Freire’s argument in his “Pedagogy of Indignation” as follows: “It is certain that men and women can change the world for the better, can make it less unjust, but they can do so from starting point of concrete reality they “come upon” in their generation. They cannot do it on the basis of reveries, false dreams, or pure illusion”. (p.31) To sum up, education could be an extremely helpful way of solving poverty regarding the possibilities from the applications of studies in critical pedagogy for educational and social issues. Therefore, among the world issues, poverty could be possibly resolved in accordance with the indigenous people’s understanding of their praxis, their actions, cognitive transformation, and the solutions with emancipation in terms of the following keynotes: First, because the poor are powerless, they usually fall into the states of self-deprecation, shame, guilt and humiliation, as previously mentioned. In other words, they usually build a barrier between themselves and society, or they resist changing their status. Therefore, approaching them is not a simple matter; it requires much time and the contributions of psychologists and sociologists in learning about their aspirations, as well as evoking and nurturing the will and capacities of individuals, then providing people with chances to carry out their own potential for overcoming obstacles in life. Second, poverty happens easily in remote areas not endowed with favorable conditions for development. People there haven’t had a lot of access to modern civilization; nor do they earn a lot of money for a better life. Low literacy, together with the lack of healthy forms of entertainment and despair about life without exit, easily lead people into drug addiction, gambling and alcoholism. In other words, the vicious circle of poverty and powerlessness usually leads the poor to a dead end. Above all, they are lonely and need to be listened to, shared with and led to escape from their states. Community meetings for exchanging ideas, communicating and immediate intervening, along with appropriate forms of entertainment, should be held frequently to meet the expectations of the poor, direct them to appropriate jobs and, step by step, change their favorite habits of entertainment. Last but not least, poor people should be encouraged to participate in social forums where they can both raise their voices about their situations and make valuable suggestions for dealing with their poverty. Children from poor families should be completely exempted from school fees to encourage them to go to school, and curriculum should also focus on raising community awareness of poverty issues through extracurricular and volunteer activities, such as meeting and talking with the community, helping poor people with odd jobs, or simply spending time listening to them. Not a matter of any individual country, poverty has become a major problem, a threat to the survival, stability and development of the world and humanity. Globalization has become a bridge linking countries; for that reason, instability in any country can directly and deeply affect the stability of others. The international community has been joining hands to solve poverty; many anti-poverty organizations, including FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), BecA (the Biosciences eastern and central Africa), UN-REDD (the United Nations Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), BRAC (Building Resources Across Communities), UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), WHO (World Health Organization) and Manos Unidas, operate both regionally and internationally, making some achievements by reducing the number of hungry people, estimated 842 million in the period 1990 to 1992, by 17 percent in 2011- to 2013 . The diverse methods used to deal with poverty have invested billions of dollars in education, health and healing. The Millennium Development Goals set by UNDP put forward eight solutions for addressing issues related to poverty holistically: 1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. 2) Achieve universal primary education. 3) Promote gender equality and empower women. 4) Reduce child mortality. 5) Improve maternal health. 6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. 7) Ensure environmental sustainability. 8) Develop a global partnership for development. Although all of the mentioned solutions carried out directly by countries and organizations not only focus on the roots of poverty but break its circle, it is recognized that the solutions do not emphasize the role of the poor themselves which a critical pedagogy does. More than anyone, the poor should have a sense of their poverty so that they can become responsible for their own fate and actively fight poverty instead of waiting for help. It is not different from the cores of critical theory in solving educational and political issues that the poor should be aware and conscious about their situation and reflected context. It is required a critical transformation from their own praxis which would allow them to go through a process of learning, sharing, solving problems, and leading to social movements. This is similar to the method of giving poor people fish hooks rather than giving them fish. The government and people of any country understand better than anyone else clearly the strengths and characteristics of their homelands. It follows that they can efficiently contribute to causing poverty, preventing the return of poverty, and solving consequences of the poverty in their countries by many ways, especially a critical pedagogy; and indirectly narrow the scale of poverty in the world. In a word, the wars against poverty take time, money, energy and human resources, and they are absolutely not simple to end. Again, the poor and the challenged should be educated to be fully aware of their situation to that they can overcome poverty themselves. They need to be respected and receive sharing from the community. All forms of discrimination should be condemned and excluded from human society. When whole communities join hands in solving this universal problem, the endless circle of poverty can be addressed definitely someday. More importantly, every country should be responsible for finding appropriate ways to overcome poverty before receiving supports from other countries as well as the poor self-conscious responsibilities about themselves before receiving supports from the others, but the methods leading them to emancipation for their own transformation and later the social change.

This article is an attempt to trace the impact of the US factor on the Russian African relations during the last years of B. Obama’s administration rule and at the initial stage of D. Trump presidency (2015–2018). The comparative assessment of Moscow and Washington African policy is made. The author demonstrates distinctions and continuity in the activities of the two US administrations in Africa. D. Trump has not included Africa in the list of his foreign policy priorities. Washington however has no intention to withdraw from the Black continent. There, as everywhere, “the American leadership” remains the invariable aim. In the 21th century, the Russia Federation policy in Africa has become much more active. Guided by the concept of multipolar world and in view of its current potential, economic in particular, Moscow has no intention to compete with the USA and other foreign actors for the overwhelming influence in Africa. Its tasks are pragmatic and realistic. In Africa, as globally, the US policy towards Russia is hostile. However the author is of the opinion that Washington does not consider Russia as a serious threaten for its positions and plans in Africa. The new National security strategy of the United States of America approved in December 2018 is full of antirussian outbursts, but in a section, dealing with the US priorities in Africa, Russia is not mentioned. The main American enemies there are international terrorists and China. Hence, no tough confrontation between the two parties – so far. Therefore rivalry there is confined to competition. The article is focused on visits in March 2018 of the Russian foreign minister S. Lavrov to Angola, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia and of then US Secretary of State R.Tillerson to Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Chad and Nigeria. The situation around some most sensitive US-Russia points of intersection in Africa – such as Egypt, Libya and South Africa Republic – is analyzed. The development of Cairo’s bilateral relations with Washington and Moscow is reviewed. It is noted that cooperation between Russia and Egypt is of mutual benefit and that the two countries need each other. But of this cooperation has its limits as the USA remains the main foreign partner of Egypt. The conclusion is that Russia has taken a course for a gradual restoration of its positions in Libya after the overthrow of M. Kaddafi. Moscow’s contribution to the settlement of the political crisis in the country is explored. Constructive contacts have been established with all major participants of this process. Special attention is paid to the National Libyan Army Commander, Field-Marshal H. Haftar. The United States preferences the head of the Government of national accord F. Sarraj. The attempts to interfere into Russia – South Africa using the resignation of president J. Zuma who firmly stood for friendship with Moscow have failed. The new president S. Ramaphosa has confirmed the policy of strong bilateral cooperation.

This thesis is an internal organisational history of the Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt between 1973 and 2013. Based on memoires of Brotherhood leaders, as well as oral history interviews conducted in 2012 and 2013 with different rank-and-file members and dissidents, the thesis situates the life trajectories and personal experiences of these individuals within a larger national and international context. The purpose is to provide a historical account that is able to explain the reasons for the Brotherhood's cataclysmic failure of the summer of 2013. In accounting for the fall, my key argument centres on the internal rivalry between two political factions representing different "schools of thought", or visions, about the kind of organisation the Brotherhood was supposed to be. Representatives of the respective coalitions competed against each other over hegemony and organisational resources, basing their claims on contrasting intellectual traditions, political cultures and organisational values that had co-existed, sometimes uncomfortably, within the ranks of the Society since the times of Hasan al-Banna. The adherents of the "Qutbist" school of thought put forward the idea of a closed, pyramid-shaped and exclusive organisation, while those closer to 'Omar al-Tilmisani's model aspired to a reformed Society that was open to outsiders, and where internal progression was based on meritocracy, transparency and some form of democracy. I argue that it is through the holistic analysis of the complex dynamics between internal organisational politics, the use of ideology, and the personal experiences of key organisational members, that we are best able to grasp the Brotherhood's failed experience in governance in 2013.

In 1919 the number of British officials employed by the Egyptian Government reached a peak of over 1,600, a substantial figure in relation to a colonial administration like the Indian Civil Service. However, due to the anomalous nature of Britain's occupation of Egypt, the workings of British administration there were left deliberately ambiguous. Thus although we have an extensive knowledge of imperial policy with regard to Egypt, we have little understanding of how British rule there actually functioned, certainly nothing to compare with numerous local studies of the Raj or Colonial Service at work. By studying the British administrators of the Egyptian Government, this thesis casts new light on Britain's middle years in Egypt, which saw formal imperial control succeeded by informal hegemony. We begin by analysing the Anglo-Egyptian administrative structure as a product of its historical development. We examine how well this muted style of administrative control suited conditions in Egypt and Britain's requirements there, considering the fact that by 1919 the British officials had become a major source of nationalist grievance. This loss of reputation caused the Milner Mission to select the British administration as a principal scapegoat in its proposed concessions. Moreover, it was the belief of certain leading officials that Britain's responsibility for Egyptian administration was no longer viable which finally helped precipitate the 1922 declaration of independence. The Egyptian Government now took actual rather than nominal control of its foreign bureaucrats, yet even in 1936, over 500 British officials were still employed in finance, security, and in technical and educational capacities. The changing role of these officials within an evolving mechanism of British control illuminates one of the earliest experiences of transfer of power this century.

Defence date: 31 May 2017
Examining Board: Professor Heba Raouf Ezzat, Cairo University; Professor Anna Triandafyllidou, European University Institute; Professor Jean-Pascal Daloz, CNRS/MISHA Strasbourg; Professor Olivier Roy, European University Institute
As a contribution to the diverse field of cosmopolitan scholarship, engaging with ‘cultural cosmopolitanism’ often understood in a vernacular sense as the capacity to meditate between different cultures, religions and ways of life, the thesis locates and analyses cosmopolitan discourses and cosmopolitan material practices within the cultural and socio-political conditions in which they were uttered in the Muslim majority context of Egypt. While issues concerning religion have been at the crux of contemporary Middle East scholarship, less often addressed are discursive and material spaces in which other types of imaginaries can prosper. As an interdisciplinary study, informed by ethnographic inquiry, the thesis engages in analyzing a cosmopolitan social imaginary as well as expressions of differing aspirations - that were framed in cosmopolitan terms - during the period between the Egyptian revolution in January 2011 and the military coup d’état in summer 2013. Witnessing profound political changes with new actors such as the Muslim Brotherhood entering the political arena, the period constitutes a historically significant moment for the analysis of discourses and practices with a cosmopolitan reference. The research grounds cosmopolitan theories in space and time and reflects on the appropriation of the cosmopolitan concept. Consequently, it casts a critical look at how there was a materialization of cosmopolitan notions of self-reflexivity and detachment – the ability to see the world from the viewpoint of one’s cultural ‘others’. On the one hand, the study discusses how nostalgia for the past, framed in cosmopolitan terms, relates to the present, and on the other, how contemporary cosmopolitan discourses and practices, enabled through global market forces, materialized in the Egyptian context in the aftermath of the Egyptian revolution of 2011. Within the political setting of post-2011 revolution Egypt, this research observes how social distinction can be enacted through cosmopolitan references. Viewed in relation to the socio-political realities of the location under study, it points to social hierarchies, which the differentiation ‘global’ and ‘local’ helps to create, and to appropriations of the contextual distinctiveness and specificity of the cosmopolitan imaginary. While discussing social distinction through an analysis of cosmopolitan imaginaries, the thesis contributes to the fields of both elite scholarship and cosmopolitan scholarship.
Chapter 6 ‘The gendered self and the other' of the PhD thesis draws upon an earlier version published as an article 'The gender dimension of the authoritarian backlash' (2015) in the journal ‘Turkish policy quarterly’

Defence date: 20 September 2018
Examining Board: Professor Dr. Jennifer Welsh, EUI; Professor Dr. Ulrich Krotz, EUI; Professor Dr. Wayne Sandholtz, USC; Professor Dr. Jörn Dosch, Universität Rostock
Constructivist scholarship within International Relations (IR) has yielded important insights into the role of identity and norms in shaping state behavior. Yet, nearly all states have multiple identities and various – sometimes conflicting – normative commitments. This thesis is concerned with ‘norm conflict’: those situations in which the prescriptions associated with two norms clash, making it seemingly impossible for a state to conform to both norms at the same time. Despite the fact that situations of norm conflict present significant decision-making problems for states, the discipline of IR has thus far given them scant attention. This thesis analyses how Southeast Asia’s more democratically advanced states have responded to situations of norm conflict between the norms of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states, and extraterritorial human rights protection and promotion. These two norms stipulate conflicting obligations in situations of gross human rights violations in foreign jurisdictions. I develop a consequentialist, but socially embedded, theoretical approach to norm following, which argues that by making credible commitments to norms, governments create domestic, international and – in some cases – regional expectations concerning norm compliance. The challenge for states is twofold: to manage such expectations, and to minimize the social costs of non-compliance with one of the two norms – which include potential damage to domestic legitimacy and international reputation. I suggest that states can pursue different strategies in response to norm conflict, which I conceptualize as consistent norm prioritization, general and context-specific norm replacement, norm reconciliation, conflict denial and a mixed response strategy. I argue that one important factor in determining which strategy is adopted represents whether the expectations articulated by a government’s relevant audiences converge, conflict or change over time. The thesis empirically explores these different strategies by studying Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia’s responses to gross cases of human rights violations in Myanmar.

Defence date: 14 December 2018
Examining Board: Prof. Stefano Bartolini, European University Institute; Prof. Mark Bovens, Utrecht University; Prof. Daniel Gaxie, University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Co-supervisor); Prof. Hanspeter Kriesi, European University Institute (Supervisor)
The aim of this dissertation is to shed new light on the electoral support for radical rightwing parties (RRP). Whereas most existing investigations assume a form of causal homogeneity, the starting point of this research project is based on what I call electoral equifinality : the coexistence of multiple causal paths leading towards different forms of support for the same political party. In order to discern and understand different forms of RRP support, the study takes both the supply and the demand side into account. Regarding the supply side, I link cleavage theory and conflict sociology to the Laclauian notion of equivalence , arguing that the electoral appeal of RRP relies on their capacity to coherently unify a multiplicity of heterogeneous demands along the same main antagonism: national versus foreign. Following Weber’s and Parkin’s thoughts on social closure, I theorize that this nativist core conflict is invoked according to a specific tripartite structure, which, to my knowledge, has remained quite unnoticed in the existing literature. In accordance with this theory, a new dataset is developed (n = 1,378), based on the tweets of Le Pen and Wilders, to compare the political supply of their parties in terms of forms of closure, reference groups and issue categories. Pertaining to the demand side, a sequential mixed methods design is followed, focusing quantitatively on the structural heterogeneity within RRP constituencies along three dimensions within a Bourdieusian framework of social space: social characteristics (who); political preferences (why) and political interest (how). Subsequently, the second qualitative research step is based on life history interviews with 125 RRP voters in France and the Netherlands, leading to a typology of radical right support. Taken together, these findings contribute to a more fine-grained understanding of RRP support in Western Europe and open up theoretical and empirical perspectives for future research.

Defence date: 17 January 2017
Examining Board: Professor Donatella della Porta, Scuola Normale Superiore/ formerly EUI (supervisor); Professor Hanspeter Kriesi, EUI; Professor Eva Anduiza, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; Professor Robert M. Fishman, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
This thesis deals with the Spanish cycle of protest in the shadow of the Great Recession. It has a twofold aspiration. On the one hand, from a process-based approach, it seeks to unravel the timing of the cycle of contention that evolved in light of the recession scenario between 2007 and 2015. I argue that the peak of protest persisted for a long time (from mid-2011 until 2013) because institutionalisation was postponed and radicalisation contained. Specifically, I focus on three aspects, key to understanding the trajectory of collective actions: 1) issue specialisation of protest after the first triggering points, 2) alliance building between unions and new actors, and 3) the transition process towards more routinised repertoires of action that came about as protests declined. On the other hand, the thesis aims at shedding light on the role that grievances play for mobilisation dynamics in a context of material deprivation. Covering multiple levels of analysis, the main argument developed here is that the effects of objective-material aspects and socioeconomic grievances are mediated by political attitudes, especially political dissatisfaction. To empirically test my arguments, I use qualitative data from semi-structured interviews, which are combined with information from a self-collated protest event analysis and different statistical analyses based on time series, panel data and other survey materials.
Chapter 3 of the thesis is based on an article published in Partecipazione e conflitto (2016)

Defence date: 13 September 2013
Examining Board: Professor Laszlo Bruszt, (EUI - Supervisor); Professor Philippe C. Schmitter, (EUI - Co-Supervisor); Professor Holger Albrecht, (American University in Cairo); Professor Robert Springborg, (Naval Postgraduate School, Monterrey, CA.)
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
Why did different regimes react differently to the mass uprisings that shook the Middle East and North Africa in 2010 and 2011? Why did the personalist presidencies of Husni Mubarak in Egypt and Zine al-Abidin Ben Ali in Tunisia collapse only weeks into the uprisings while Syria’s Bashar al-Assad still holds onto power and Yemen’s Ali Abdallah Salih could negotiate his way out of office? Focusing on the cases of Egypt, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen, this thesis is an attempt to answer this question. The central argument of this thesis is that military elite behavior shaped regime trajectories in the Arab Spring. Where the armed forces as an institution defected from the incumbent, the presidency immediately collapsed; where at least some military elites remained loyal, the respective chief executives survived in office for a significantly longer period. I develop an explanation that focuses on the presence of regime cronies within the military leadership. Where such cronies exist, the costs of defection increase for all members of the officer corps. Since the loyalty of cronies appears as a forgone conclusion, defection would likely lead to confrontation within the military. In other words, the absence of crony officers is a necessary condition for the cohesive defection of the armed forces from authoritarian presidents. Empirically, the fact that there were no crony officers in their respective militaries enabled the Egyptian and Tunisian armed forces to defect from their commanders in chief without endangering their internal cohesion. In Syria and Yemen, on the other hand, the defection of the armed forces as an institution was not an option given the fact that key units in both militaries were controlled by officers closely connected to the president. The result was the swift collapse of personalist presidencies in Egypt and Tunisia and the escalation of conflict in Syria and Yemen. This thesis traces the emergence of patterns of political-military relations in Egypt, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen from regime foundation in the 1950s and 1960s to the uprisings of 2010 and 2011. I argue that path dependent processes of institutional development link patterns of political-military relations at the outbreak of the uprisings to the dynamics of regime foundation in the early 20th century. While the institutional form of the founding regimes that II emerged in the 1950s and 1960s was a function of the composition of regime coalitions, the patterns of political-military relations that shaped regime trajectories in 2011 were shaped by attempts to reproduce these initial institutional features over time and under changing environmental conditions. The initial role of the armed forces in founding regimes was determined by whether or not the regime coalition had drawn institutional support from the military. Where this was the case as in Egypt and Syria, the military developed into a central regime institution, whereas the armed forces remained marginal in Tunisia and institutionally weak in Yemen. These initial differences were reproduced in the context of a period of institutional and economic reform from the second half of the 1970s onwards. While all four regimes succeeded in reining in the military, they used different strategies that had different and partially unintended consequences. In Egypt the depoliticization of the military was sugarcoated by the emergence of a parallel ‘officers’ republic’ that ensured substantial military autonomy, in Syria the armed forces were controlled via a system of praetorian units, while in Tunisia the military remained marginal but largely independent from the regime and in Yemen tribal dynamics prevented the army from developing into a strong institution. These processes all fulfilled their primary goal of ensuring that the armed forces would not actively intervene in politics. At the same time, however, they produced different incentive structures for military elites confronted with regime threatening protests.

This chapter discusses the impact of Fatimid Shi‘i women on political and religious affairs, in collaboration with the other two genders; men and eunuchs. In Early 11^th century, Sitt al-Mulk seized the rule in the Fatimid empire by assassinating her brother caliph and instated his young son. By 1036, Concubine Rasad became queen regent for her five years old boy, and dominated political affairs for decades, until she named herself as queen in state documents. One examine how the first sole queen came to power in Yemen in 1098 and remained for four decades. She not only was a ruler, but also became second religious authority after the caliph himself. Why and how she managed to do that? Why her model has not repeated under the Fatimid dynasty? Why 11^th century Yemen and Arabia was much more progressive than 21th century? Ironically, Queen Arwa never attempted to use any of her gender in the state affairs, and continued to count on the other gender. The Egyptian chancery kept for us few official correspondents between the Queens of Fatimid Egypt and queen of Yemen in an extremely rare case.