A Structural and Agency Analysis of the Roots of the Consolidation of Authoritarianism in Egypt after the 1980s

Egypt is an important state in the Arab and Muslim world because of its ancient civilization and very large population. It is also one of the most influential actors in the Middle East. The history of modernization and reform in the country can be traced back two centuries, and is characterized by many civil groups and socio-political currents. In spite of this, the main question is why Egypt has seen continued authoritarianism under Mubarak. The collapse of this government is not in this research's focus. In this article, the roots of the consolidation of authoritarianism in Egypt after the 1980s are explained based on structure-agency theory. In this article, the hypothesis is that authoritarian government, undemocratic elites and severe political, economic and legal-structural limitations on the one hand and a serious deficit in civil agents and leaders (weakness of horizontal ties and lack of collaboration between them) led to the consolidation of authoritarianism with superficial democracy during the past three decades.