4.3 Analysis of Egypt; a country with low tribalism Just as other countries, tribal constructs in Egypt are essential layers in the country’s social and political climate. As observed in Yemen, tribal features have had significant influence and decisive effect on the outcome of elections. Despite tribes being the central drive for political operations and processes in Egypt, the country has minimal issues of extreme tribalism. The Egyptian political culture is inseparable from its tribe. The Egyptian tribes entail large extended families composed of small sub-groups which are often distinct politically but not socially or culturally from their neighbors (Coffman, 2013). The little socio-cultural variations in Egyptian tribes is because almost all the tribe in the country trace their roots back to Arabian Peninsula, especially with Amr ibn al-As after the Islamic conquest of the Nile valley in 641 BC (The Danish Egypt Dialogue Institute, 2014) In some areas especially in the Northern Egypt, various other groups considered to be minorities associated with other origins apart from Arabian Peninsula also exists, but discrimination against such groups is very minimal as compared to Yemen, where Ethnic and religious minorities are considered to be ‘Occupiers’ who brings a new identity for the Yemen people, the decedents of the family of prophet Muhammad. Based on a study by Al-Qassemi (2013), unlike in Yemen where social identity and size of tribe is essential, the Egyptian tribes are often divided in two smaller subgroups or segments, whereby these small groups act as separate entities. This greatly reduces the political power and authority of large tribal groups thereby, minimizing tribalism in the country significan... ... middle of paper ... ...ribe has no stressed importance in the society Finally, what make a candidate in the Egyptian political system are merely tribal structure and policies but the candidate’s ability and his supporters to arrange for political alliances between and within sub groups and entire tribes. According to Almonitor Magazine (2014), this is achieved through appeal to solidarity by the members of the society that is expressed though togetherness as a result o shared common ancestry and origin in the Arabian Peninsula. Such an aspect paves way for new democratic ideas and political reforms in the Egyptian civil society. However, it is equally important for a candidate to familiarize and know the local tribal map of the country before entering the political arena, as it gives the candidate profound grounds and a better understanding of the kind of people he or she is dealing with
Any study on Modern Egyptian history naturally begins with Nasser, Egypt’s first President after the Free Officers revolution in 1952. Nasser was the foremost proponent of pan-Arabism, an ideology that called for close ties between the Arab states, presumably under the leadership of Egypt, one of the most powerful states in the Middle East at the time. Compared to other states in the Arab World, Nasser’s Egypt was stable, militarily powerful, and independent of foreign influence. From this position of re...
Egypt has one of the longest histories of any nation in the world. Written history of Egypt dates back to about 5,000 years, the commencement of civilization. While there is divergence in relation to Early Egyptian times, it is said that Egypt came to be around 3200 B.C., during the reign of a king by the name of Menes and unified the northern and southern cities of Egypt into one government. In 1675 B.C., Egypt was invaded by the Hyksos, people from the east, bringing along the very first of chariots and horses ever to come across Egyptian soil. Approximately 175 years later in 1500 B.C., the Egyptians had gotten rid of the Hyksos and driven them out. In 1375 B.C., Amenhotep IV had become the king of Egypt. During his reign he eliminated the worship of Egyptian gods and initiated the idea of only worshipping one god. But after his death, his ideas were retired and old ways were reestablished. Egyptian supremacy then started to decline around 1000 B.C. Between 1000 B.C. and 332 B.C., Egypt was ruled by many such as the Libyans, Assyrians, Ethiopians, and Persians. In 640, Muslims conquered Egypt and founded the city of Cairo in 969 and deemed it as the capital of Egypt. For many centuries Egypt was ruled by Muslim caliphs. A prominent ruler of this period was Saladin, who battled the Christian Crusaders at the conclusion of the twelfth century. In 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt but was then forced to withdraw in 1801 Turkish and British armed forces. In 1805 Mohamed Ali began ruling Egypt till 1848 and great changed the country in terms of modernization and its military. During Mohamed’s conquest, he borrowed a lot of money from the French and British, which later resulted in Egypt’s coloniza...
In “It Takes a Tribe” by David Berreby, he claims that humans are born with the urge to belong, and our experiences in life subconsciously shape who we are, placing us in groups. Berreby first provides examples of stereotyping and states how judging groups is a serious problem today, comparing it to prejudice and racism (par. 1-2). He moves forward to discuss how easily humans adapt to their surroundings and how this causes us to be placed inside these “exclusive” groups (par. 4-5). Berreby uses “college loyalty” and “school spirit” as examples of this, showing that colleges are the perfect place to study this behavior as they are strong comparisons to this behavior in the rest of the world (par. 8-9). Berreby also shares that “us” vs. “them”
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“The Danish Egyptian dialogue Institute” article. “Tribes and Elections in Upper Egypt.” Hiwar Magazine. Jan. 2012.
Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 1991. Print.
...dentity*. The government’s huge efforts to promote sedentism, reflects the common prejudice that nomads represent a deterioration that is extremely distant from modern life. The advocacy of officials towards racial discrimination has made the diffusion of racism inevitable. Accordingly, when Bedouins, particularly the Awlad Ali tribe, visit Cairo and other cities, they describe Egyptians as inhospitable and unhelpful people*. While I was initially shocked by their statements, I came to realize that “hospitality” is such a relative term, for in the presence of racial discrimination, how on earth were these Bedouins going to see the hospitable side of Egyptians! Furthermore, such an outwardly biased system will no doubt advocate the formation of stereotypes towards “inferior” groups, and it will help create a correlation between stereotyped traits and life chances.
Culture, is defined as the beliefs, customs, arts, and way of life of a particular society, group, place, or time of a particular society or group of people. (Merriam_Webster Incorporated) The concentrated focus of the content herein will surround the customs, beliefs, attitudes, and ways of life that have come to dictate how Egypt and the Egyptian people have gone from a Sub-Saharan dynasty of rule to the revolutionary culture we see today. Provisionary concepts that will provide awareness to the societal impacts the Egyptian people have created or endured will align with the Civil Considerations outlined if Field Manual 3-24 “Counter Insurgency” which are areas, structures, capabilities, organizations, people, and events. (Army)
Early 2011 uprisings swept across the Middle East and North Africa, and many rebellions are still going on today. The Arab region has seen revolts and conflict since the 1800‘s, but only recently have these revolts been redirected to the problems of Arab society (Ghannam, J. 2011 pg 4-5)The Arab Spring Uprising was first sparked in Tunisia and eventually struck Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen and then spread to other countries. Citizens throughout these countries were dissatisfied with the rule of their local governments. Issues like human rights violations, political corruption, economic decline, unemployment, extreme poverty, dictators...
Shehata, S. (2011, November 25). Profiles of Egypt's Political Parties. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15899548
Over thousands of years, the ancient Egyptian civilization been closely associated with religion, mythologists have considered itself one of the most important fundamentals of the Egyptian civilization, more than five thousand years, and the pillars of the establishment of the Egyptian state and standardization. However, I was always fascinated about the myths in the middle east, not because I was born in Iraq and grew up in an Assyrian family, it’s because the ancient Egyptians have contributed in adding many civilizational achievements to the world through the knowledge of their agriculture, stability, creating the first major central country in the region, and may be accompanied by the presence of major achievements in various fields in
The structure of Egyptian politics and state administration was also redefined during Ali’s rule. As the go...
The transfer of identity from what one is to what one does can create tremendous fissures destruction of people who feel rootless, occurs not only when a society is divested by economic depression but also during economic boom when the possibility are limitless. Most Arab countries also experienced a particularly from of anomic. In Qatar, despite enormous Change, individual Qatari are still grouped according to lineage, or a largely fictitious if authentically felt consanguinity(p:6). Although the word tribe has become problematic a term often associated with categorizing(p:7). The current state of Qatari demography should always remain in the background. While it could be argued that the appropriate, singular focus for this book would be the extraordinary rise of Al-Thani elite and their co-opting of Qatar’s tribal
Tribes remain a major political force by shaping the decision-making process of the state and national identity. “Tribal identity is so strong it competes with the influential Islamism and nationalism, and often becomes strong when other political administrations become weak.” (Fattah, 2012) Political authority comes from tribes, more specifically the sheik, while integrating their culture and beliefs. These types of social obligations tend to drive tribal voting where tribesmen vote in support for their sheiks. The sheiks area of operation follows a notional boundary which are drawn based on the limits of that tribe. Acting as the administrative official, the sheik accepts expressive and persuasive items from the political elites in exchange for economic benefits and political concessions. State control would fail without the support of tribes. (Fattah,
One of the work's strengths is its ability to address different ideological paradigms and events of history. As Mitchell is a professor of Middle Eastern studies and his previous works were on Egypt, he discussed the relationship between democracy and