Counterrevolution in Egypt

“Anyone wanting to understand the despiriting end of the Arab uprising in Egypt can do no better than this magisterial, harrowing, richly researched book. Drawing on mountains of Arabic language sources, a sophisticated understanding of Arab revolutionary politics, and his own experience as an activist and dissident in Egypt, Hamalawy has produced an instant classic.”
—Laleh Khalili, author of Time in the Shadows: Confinement in Counterinsurgencies

“Hossam el-Hamalawy has drawn on his dramatic personal experiences and a vast array of other information to excavate Egypt’s deep state centered on the military and security services. Hidden under but dominating the First Republic’s nominal civil state from its founding in 1952, in Sisi’s Second Republic this deep state has risen above and largely displaced the residual civil state it inherited. Chronicling in remarkable detail this fundamental reconfiguration of the Egyptian political economy, el-Hamalawy’s book is a pioneering, invaluable guide to authoritarian upgrading in Egypt and suggestive of how that process is occurring elsewhere. If there were but one book Western decision makers responsible for policies toward Egypt should read, this is the one, because it lays bare the awful consequences for Egyptians of external support for Sisi’s self-proclaimed but profoundly misnamed Second “Republic”.”
—Robert Springborg, Research Fellow of the Italian Institute of International Affairs and Adjunct Professor, Simon Fraser University