Judging the Arab Spring
How to assess whether a post-revolutionary country is actually heading somewhere positive? Tunisia struggles onward, Libya pursues its own unique post-revolutionary path but Egypt’s democratic regression is truly worrying
North Africa
Europe must recognise that Egypt is not moving to democracy
As Egypt appears to lurch back towards a pre-revolutionary security state, there's an urgent need for the EU to make a firm statement that the country is no longer moving towards a democratic future
Who will pick up the pieces in Egypt?
This week's violence in Egypt is a watershed moment in the country's recent history, heralding more political contestation that is likely to be both harsh and unbalanced in favour of the government
Egypt’s split society must have the courage to say “enough”
Events in Cairo on Monday will go down as a watershed moment in what is now likely to be decades of upheaval facing Egypt. Egyptian society must have the courage to say “enough.”
Repression and violence after the coup in Egypt
Europe should remember that the elements in Egypt that are now likely to be on top of the political system – the Army, the judiciary, the intelligence services – represent a completely unreformed inheritance from the “deep state” as it existed under Mubarak.
Mubarak’s children come home
This is not a victory for freedom but for the old regime, or more precisely the Egyptian deep-state – a bureaucratic, military, and business elite, that never went away, is considered to be the real power in Egypt and that just reasserted its interests.
EU troops can still help in Mali
A ‘plug-and-play' approach to peacekeeping lacks the glamour of a full-scale military intervention but it could be a cheaper and a more strategic approach for the EU to deal with the situation in Mali.
Egypt: out of control?
Egypt appears to be spinning out of control. The current crisis is a prolongation of the crisis that emerged late last year over a decree by President Morsi suspending some judicial decisions and giving himself additional powers, followed by the rush to approve a new constitution.
Ten trends for 2013
2012 saw continuing crisis in the eurozone, growing Euroscepticism and populism in some corners of Europe, faltering transitions in Egypt and elsewhere, more violence in Syria, a new leadership in China, and both Putin II and Obama II. So what will 2013 hold?
Democracy and Political Islam after the Arab revolutions
Islamists are in charge in Egypt and Tunisia because they were chosen by the voters in free elections; not because they won the battle for the streets. What is happening in the Arab countries is not an ideological revolution – it is a fight over the distribution of political power.