Egyptian Foreign Policy from Morsi to Sisi; A Shift within the Paradigm

The purpose of this article is to examine the new foundations and dimensions of Egyptian foreign policy during the era of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. In the postMubarak era, Egypt witnessed sweeping domestic and foreign policy developments. With the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi, the first elected president in Egyptian history, the country entered a new phase at the domestic and foreign policy levels. As foreign policy has been and continues to be a continuation of Egypt’s domestic politics, al-Sisi’s views on foreign policy and the way he is changing it is important internally as well. The question of the paper is focused on why and the level of change in Egyptian foreign policy during the Sisi era. I hypothize that changes in Egypt’s foreign policy is the result of the different worldviews of its ruling elites- which has drastically changed from Morsi to Sisi- and their corresponding corporate interests. Still, I argue that this change was not paradigmic. Methodologically, I use causal analysis as well as discourse analysis to explain changes in Sisi’s foreign policy. The research period covers the post-coup period in Egypt