The Path to Democracy

Two years ago, I was asked by a politics magazine to write a small article about the then ongoing protests in Tahrir Square in Cairo. On the one hand, people were very optimistic. The relative success of the Tunisian demonstrations, which also came about more or less quickly, made some people think that Egypt would mirror them. In turn, those two countries would become the first steps in a region-wide tide of authoritarian-leader deposition. On the other hand, except for the immediate antecedent in Tunisia there was no reason to believe that protests, which were become increasingly violent, would lead to democracy.

The day the piece was due the military council announced that Mubarak would step down, providing a clear outcome for the demonstrations (although, apparently, the decision of the president leaving office was taken by the Army, which could be interpreted as a coup). I titled my article “18 Days of Goodness”, in reference to Max Ernst’s set of collages A Week of Goodness (Une Semaine de Bonté). In them, with Victorian-era illustrations, he severely criticizes the excesses of violence, control, and authority in the 1930s Europe, all under the façade of “civilization”. With my title I wanted to remember the reader that whatever change that might occur in Egypt it had been at a very violent price. The editors of the magazine changed the title to “18 Days that Changed Egypt”, in relation to the book and film “10 Days that Changed the World”, chronicling the October Revolution and, thus, the birth of the first successful national communist state. The assumption was that the ousting of Mubarak and the promise of free and fair democratic elections in Egypt clearly were enough to change Egypt.

Two years after the beginning of the protests that led to the stepping down of Mubarak I am not sure about what could be a more adequate title for the article I wrote or, to put it more generally, what would be the most precise way to understand the outcomes and results of the protests. As has been commented before in this blog, Egypt has undergone a more than tumultuous process of reconstituting political authority in the country after Mubarak left. Of course, Egypt is now a different country than what was during Mubarak’s rule. If for no better reason, because people now expect and demand to have real participation in the political processes. At the same time, violence is still present, as was shown this week. And some groups have made clear their dissatisfaction with the shape the new Constitution took, with the limits imposed by the separation of powers, or the liberties that are expected to be found in a democracy. Otherwise said, although the path towards democratization in Egypt is outlined in general terms, it seems to be uncertain whether or not it will be walked through.