Egypt: Will the Dam Burst?

Poverty and bitterness seethe in Egypt: “The fact is that most of Egypt’s 75m people struggle to get by, their ambitions thwarted by rising prices, appalling state schools, capricious judges, a plodding and corrupt bureaucracy and a cronyist regime that pretends democracy but in fact crushes all challengers and excludes all participation,” the Economist reports. Pent-up frustration contributes to increasing civil disobedience and the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood as the strongest opposition force. But the opposition and the party in power share similar characteristics: aging leaders and closed systems. Egypt’s economy, relying on tourism and foreign investment, has shown some improvement, including a drop in the unemployment rate, but wealth remains concentrated among a few. Lack of a clear succession plan for the president’s post – amid rising poverty, anti-Americanism, resentment over rising inequality – in what the Economist describes as the world’s “most populous, politically weighty and geographically pivotal Arab state” poses regional and international security challenges. – YaleGlobal