A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Monday, August 24, 2009

Egypt Succession: Opening Up the Debate

A very interesting post at the Egyptian blogger who calls herself Baheyya, on Who Should Rule Egypt? Her main point is simple but I hadn't seen it put quite this way before: the efforts to provide for succession by Gamal Mubarak have in effect opened up the whole question of who should rule Egypt and how they should be chosen. After the Free Officers' Coup, the idea that the military would provide the country's leadership was long taken for granted, but by supplanting that idea with hereditary succession, the Gamal Mubarak issue has opened up the whole question of legitimacy and who should rule. A thoughtful reflection at a time when the issue is clearly coming to a head.

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