The Egyptian Interregnum: The High Cost of Suppressing Change

Abstract

"The old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appears." - Antonio Gramsci, The Prison Notebooks. The crisis Gramsci refers to is palpable in Egypt. The military regime, while putting little effort into preventing (or even slowing down) its own demise, is vehemently preventing the birth of "the new." Three years of legislative vacuum (preceding the recent election of a new, tamed parliament) and continuously resorting to the rhetoric of "war on terrorism" in order to brutally silence the opposition have completely blocked the political sphere and put the political system on hold. Meanwhile, the alliance backing President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is fragile to the point of collapse. The government's lack of a clear overarching vision is leading to unprecedented levels of politicization, fragmentation, discord, and violation of the law within the state apparatus. Infighting seems no longer to be bracketed by a set of common interests. While the regime asks for patience as it pursues "stability" and "state building," it seems to be taking a path with two possible outcomes: total collapse or gradual decay, the morbid symptoms of which are already evident.