The Role of the Egyptian Working Class in Mubarak's Ouster

The downfall of Hosni Mubarak’s regime in Egypt has often been portrayed as a ‘pure event’ - that is, something restricted to a couple of weeks in a single and specific square. This article seeks to direct-ly challenge this standard narrative, which has focused simply on what happened in Tahrir, arguing instead that Mubarak’s ouster from power was the result of longstanding anti-regime struggles that developed throughout the 2000s. In the implicit formation of that cross-class and cross-ideological coalition that even-tually defeated the regime, a crucial role was played by workers’ mobilizing against neoliberal policies. There are three main reasons for this: a) since the late 1990s workers were the most serious challenge to Mubarak’s regime; b) during the now famous eighteen days of relentless protests, workers were at the fore-front in the Nile Delta centers, as well as an important element in Tahrir; and finally c) when public enter-prises were re-opened on February 6, an unprecedented wave of strikes paralyzed the country, forcing the military to oust Hosni Mubarak in order to deflect the growing social soul of the uprisin

The Role of the Egyptian Working Class in Mubarak's Ouster

The downfall of Hosni Mubarak’s regime in Egypt has often been portrayed as a ‘pure event’ - that is, something restricted to a couple of weeks in a single and specific square. This article seeks to direct-ly challenge this standard narrative, which has focused simply on what happened in Tahrir, arguing instead that Mubarak’s ouster from power was the result of longstanding anti-regime struggles that developed throughout the 2000s. In the implicit formation of that cross-class and cross-ideological coalition that even-tually defeated the regime, a crucial role was played by workers’ mobilizing against neoliberal policies. There are three main reasons for this: a) since the late 1990s workers were the most serious challenge to Mubarak’s regime; b) during the now famous eighteen days of relentless protests, workers were at the fore-front in the Nile Delta centers, as well as an important element in Tahrir; and finally c) when public enter-prises were re-opened on February 6, an unprecedented wave of strikes paralyzed the country, forcing the military to oust Hosni Mubarak in order to deflect the growing social soul of the uprisin

The Revolutionary Character of the 'Arab Revolutions' and How they Could Be Studied

Over the last ten years, the masses have taken to the streets in many countries of the Middle East and North Africa, determining a rapid dislocation of the mechanisms that order societies and creating the potential conditions for deep transformations. Despite this, the results have been modest. Dealing with political revolutionary movements that have failed to ignite social revolutions, scholars have questioned whether these events can be regarded as revolutions and which theoretical instruments are the most appropriate to explore a changing region. This article discusses these issues. It does so in two ways. Firstly, the article criticises the most common understandings of revolution and proposes a different interpretation of the phenomenon. This is based on a three-step strategy, which moves beyond an evolutionist interpretation of history, takes into account different dimensions of revolutions, and distinguishes different types of revolution. Secondly, to study revolutions properly, the article proposes to combine insights from both structuralist approaches and microfoundational studies. This allows to develop a moving picture of the revolutionary situation that does not overlook class and institutional aspects. Scholars can do this by scaling down the level of analysis from the outcome that revolution produces to the mechanism that puts it in motion.<br /

The Role of the Egyptian Working Class in Mubarak's Ouster

The downfall of Hosni Mubarak’s regime in Egypt has often been portrayed as a ‘pure event’ - that is, something restricted to a couple of weeks in a single and specific square. This article seeks to direct-ly challenge this standard narrative, which has focused simply on what happened in Tahrir, arguing instead that Mubarak’s ouster from power was the result of longstanding anti-regime struggles that developed throughout the 2000s. In the implicit formation of that cross-class and cross-ideological coalition that even-tually defeated the regime, a crucial role was played by workers’ mobilizing against neoliberal policies. There are three main reasons for this: a) since the late 1990s workers were the most serious challenge to Mubarak’s regime; b) during the now famous eighteen days of relentless protests, workers were at the fore-front in the Nile Delta centers, as well as an important element in Tahrir; and finally c) when public enter-prises were re-opened on February 6, an unprecedented wave of strikes paralyzed the country, forcing the military to oust Hosni Mubarak in order to deflect the growing social soul of the uprising<br /

The Revolutionary Character of the 'Arab Revolutions' and How they Could Be Studied

Over the last ten years, the masses have taken to the streets in many countries of the Middle East and North Africa, determining a rapid dislocation of the mechanisms that order societies and creating the potential conditions for deep transformations. Despite this, the results have been modest. Dealing with political revolutionary movements that have failed to ignite social revolutions, scholars have questioned whether these events can be regarded as revolutions and which theoretical instruments are the most appropriate to explore a changing region. This article discusses these issues. It does so in two ways. Firstly, the article criticises the most common understandings of revolution and proposes a different interpretation of the phenomenon. This is based on a three-step strategy, which moves beyond an evolutionist interpretation of history, takes into account different dimensions of revolutions, and distinguishes different types of revolution. Secondly, to study revolutions properly, the article proposes to combine insights from both structuralist approaches and microfoundational studies. This allows to develop a moving picture of the revolutionary situation that does not overlook class and institutional aspects. Scholars can do this by scaling down the level of analysis from the outcome that revolution produces to the mechanism that puts it in motion