A Contemplation on the Fragility and Continuity of Government in Egypt from 1980 to 2020

The government in Egypt appeared fragile during the two periods of the 2011 revolution and the post-revolutionary period, but it survived with a military coup. In 2011, the government condition became incredibly complicated in a short time. This great experience was not instructive for the religious revolutionaries, and like a hasty government, they were soon overthrown by popular protests and military coups. Contrary to expectations, the military was able to form a stable government. Inspired by the descriptive method and the combination of two institutionalism and cultural theories, this study tries to address the important question of why the government appeared fragile in the era of Mubarak and Morsi, but stable in the era of the military? The results show that the experience of economic modernization and liberalization led to the emergence and development of social and political forces. The government, on the other hand, continued to emphasize the traditional discourse of power. This deprived the government of gaining hegemony in the context of civil society and creating institutions for community participation. The inefficiency of the government in the economic field, the lack of cultural hegemony and civil institutions, and repressive attitudes led to the emergence and formation of a pragmatic society. The state in this society became rootless and quickly appeared fragile against the mass movement. The Akhavan's government also failed to eliminate the institutions of power of the previous regime and create new ones, while by imitating Mubarak's policy, it monopolized power so that it could lose the conflict in the street arena and easily collapse. The military took advantage of these opportunities to emerge as a national-historical institution,  satisfy the dominant political forces, and to form a new authority in the form of an "efficient government.