Maha Abdelrahman
LSE Middle East Centre Paper Series | 08 | September 2015
Abstract
This paper considers the nature of activism and revolutionary process in the 21st century by examining some of the dilemmas involved in the case of Egypt. It argues that the characteristics of horizontal networks of activism, especially the absence of centralised organisational structures, although well suited to the phase of mass protests in the lead-up to the ousting of Mubarak, can pose a challenge to the prospects of long-term revolutionary projects.
This paper is the first in a series on Social Movements and Popular Mobilisation in the MENA Region (SMPM), led by Dr John Chalcraft.
About the Author
Maha Abdelrahman is Reader in the Centre of Development Studies at the University of Cambridge. Her research interests cover a wide range of aspects of the sociology and politics of development including state-civil society relations, opposition politics and social movements, labour relations and NGOs - both at the global level and within the context of the Middle East. Her current research focuses on the politics of the‘Arab Spring’, the history of social and political struggles in the Arab Middle East and the meaning of revolution in the 21st century. Her recent book Egypt’s Long Revolution: Protests and Uprisings (Routledge 2015) deals with many of these issues.