Sunday, February 6, 2011

Egypt’s Transition

In this article, Obama comments that Egypt still has many options as to how the government will be restructured now that former President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down. Obama illustrates that it will be up to the people of Egypt as to how this will be done. Specific organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood will not have the authority to shape the government as they see fit. Egypt’s revolution was started by the people, for the people. The people will ultimately redefine the governmental hierarchy and what type of economic system will represent Egypt. Interestingly, the type of change going on in Egypt can be characterized as a Marx inspired revolutionary change. A Marxist revolutionary change consists of building up to a crisis and resolving itself by systematic change. This is exactly what has happened in Egypt. The public outcry and protests against Mubarak’s reign eventually led to a change in government structure and power. President Obama remains hopeful that Egypt will cooperate with the United States and accept a partnership with the U.S. in the near future.

3 comments:

Jack H said...

It will certainly be interesting how Egypt will interact with the United States and the rest of the world after this upheaval. Not to mention how long this unrest will continue until the majority of the people are satisfied with the new government.

It will be interesting to see how the U.S. will respond, and how much (if at all) we extend a hand towards Egypt. These upcoming weeks and months could prove crucial for the future relations between the two.

Unknown said...

I believe that is also a crucial time for Israel. If a strong Islamic government replaces the current government there is a possibility that they might not support the Israeli government and might also go against the US. It will be interesting to know what government would replace the current one and how would it affect Israel.

Anonymous said...

I think the type of system Egypt moves to under new leadership will be the key thing to watch. After being led by the same regime for such a long period of time, clearly the people were fed up with the state of things. But the question shifts now to what exactly the people want; did they just want a new regime, or is there a specific system of rule the majority of the people want to move to? And how exactly can they determine what type of system the people want, and whether or not that's what is best for the nation?