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11 - The Dynamics of State-Mobilized Movements

Insights from Egypt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2020

By
Ashley Anderson  and
Melani Cammett
Edited by
Grzegorz Ekiert ,
Elizabeth J. Perry  and
Xiaojun Yan
Grzegorz Ekiert
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Elizabeth J. Perry
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Massachusetts
Xiaojun Yan
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong
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Summary

On February 2, 2011, pro-regime loyalists swept into Tahrir Square in central Cairo to attack protesters calling for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, who had governed Egypt for nearly three decades. In the attacks, government-hired thugs rode horses and camels through the protest camp, attacking demonstrators with whips and other weapons and leaving several dead and wounded. The attack, which came to be as the “Battle of the Camel,” is a violent example of regime-orchestrated contentious action (Kandil, 2012, p. 227; Ketchley, 2017, p. 67). State-mobilized movements (SMMs), however, can take more peaceful forms, such as demonstrations and rallies organized to express support for incumbent authoritarian rulers. Indeed, the Egyptian uprising witnessed multiple episodes of nonviolent, SMMs in which citizens took to the streets to convey their support of the incumbent regime, whether orchestrated by elites from the Mubarak government or from one of his successors in the tumultuous years following his departure.

Type
Chapter
Information
Ruling by Other Means
State-Mobilized Movements
 , pp. 261 - 290
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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