The Muslim Brotherhood once held the reins of power in Egypt. Now it faces internal splits, government repression and dwindling support.
A 2005 presidential election poster of then-President Hosni Mubarak that said: ‘70 million Egyptian Muslims and Christians say yes to Mubarak.’
AP Photo/Hasan Jamali
Mubarak used his relationship with the Copts to receive support for his rule, but he did not build institutions that could guarantee Christians constitutional rights.
Hosni Mubarak, the late former President of Egypt.
EFE-EPA/Amel Pain
Despite the dismantling of Sudan’s ruling party, the country’s autocratic leanings still pose a threat to democracy.
Mohammed Morsi, a member of the controversial Islamist political organization the Muslim Brotherhood, was Egypt’s first democratically elected president. He was overthrown in a coup in 2013 and died on trial this June.
Reuters/Amr Dalsh
A few years ago, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and Turkey’s Gulenists were running the show. Now both religious movements face political repression. How did they fall so far, so fast?
Funeral prayers were said for Mohamed Morsi in Istanbul Turkey, after his death in mid June.
Erde Sahin/EPA
Qatar’s decision to aid Turkey in the face of American sanctions against the country may finally be a snub too far for its close relationship with the US.
When it comes to foreign policy, Saudi Arabia has recently become far more aggressive. A historian of the modern Middle East sees three possible causes for the shift.
Qatar has used its wealth to adopt policies sometimes rivaling Saudi Arabia’s. Think, for example, of the popular Al-Jazeera. Now the Saudis seem determined to limit Qatari influence as much as possible.
A member of the Muslim Brotherhood during Egypt’s Freedom and Justice Party convention.
Lilian Wagdy
The Muslim Brotherhood exists in the form of many local organizations and well as an international organization. Research shows there isn’t a coherent Muslim Brotherhood ideology.
The century since the first world war is littered with the broken promises of Muslim rulers to bring about a transition to more representative forms of government.
AAP/Asmaa Abdelatif
The rise of Islamic State and its declaration of the caliphate can be read as part of a wider story that has unfolded since the formation of modern nation states in the Muslim world.
One needs to understand the differences in their Islamic movements to make sense of events over recent decades in Egypt and Iran.
EPA/Mohamed Messara
People sometimes overlook their profound differences if social forces unite them in a common, often ill-defined desire. Hostility to Muslims is creating an imagined solidarity that Islamists can exploit.
Simon Mabon, Lancaster University and Lucia Ardovini, Lancaster University
Two years after the ousting of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, military rule is now firmly entrenched.
Families cross the Euphrates River seeking the relative safety of Baghdad as Islamic State fighters advance with the goal of creating such violence that people turn from the government to any force capable of restoring peace.
EPA/Ahmed Jalil
Islamic State is a project built on solid foundations by jihadist theorists with decades of experience. The savagery of terrorism precedes the next stage of a caliphate that delivers longed-for order.
Al-Sisi won an election – but can he win his people’s confidence?
EPA/Mahmoud Taha
Simon Mabon, Lancaster University and Lucia Ardovini, Lancaster University
It was a year of huge transition for Egypt. Gone was the Muslim Brotherhood, in both word and deed, while the military regime of Abdel Fatah al-Sisi strengthened its control across the state. Despite facing…
Extra security has appeared at Cairo University.
Khaled Elfiqi/EPA
Egypt’s new academic year started in early October amid unprecedented repressive measures by the state against students. On October 11, the morning of the first day of university, police carried out a…
Rockets launched from the Gaza strip.
EPA/Jim Hollander
Fawaz Gerges, London School of Economics and Political Science
After days of oscillation over an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, the conflict between Israel and Hamas has escalated into a full-on Israeli ground offensive in Gaza. According to authorities in Gaza, 258…
Professor of Middle East & Central Asian Politics, Deputy Director (International), Alfred Deakin Research Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University