DOCSLIB.ORG

Egyptian Bloggers Before and After the 2011 Uprising El Sayed, N

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Egyptian Bloggers Before and After the 2011 Uprising El Sayed, N WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/westminsterresearch From Underground to Elite: Egyptian Bloggers before and after the 2011 Uprising El Sayed, N. This is an electronic version of a PhD thesis awarded by the University of Westminster. © Mrs Nadine El Sayed, 2015. The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of WestminsterResearch: ((http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/). In case of abuse or copyright appearing without permission e-mail [email protected] From Underground to Elite: Egyptian Bloggers before and after the 2011 Uprising Nadine El Sayed A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements by the University of Westminster for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, June 2015 DECLARATION I certify that this thesis I have presented for examination for the PhD degree at the University of Westminster is my own work. El Sayed, 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For putting up with my endless emails, re-writes and edits – sometimes all within two hours of each other – and her constant guidance and support, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Naomi Sakr. For putting up with my complaining, mood swings, self-doubts, bouts of “what did I get myself into” and a whole lot of starry eyes, non-responsive, thesis- contemplating states, I have to thank my family. To my mother, I am endlessly thankful for your constant support, for all those pages you read and re-read and miraculously found interesting even though you had no previous interest in bloggers or media theories and for spending hours discussing - and pretending to be fascinated by - my thesis. I have to thank my father for pushing me to do this in the first place, trusting my abilities, even when I had doubts and always having high hopes for me. And to my husband: I can’t thank you enough for putting up with four years of my staring endlessly at a computer screen followed by hours of rants and all the support you gave me these past two years. I would also like to thank my brother for constantly nagging me into working and finishing up writing, every week of every month. Thanks to my girls who managed to understand when I missed all those dinners, movies and get-togethers because I was home analyzing data and editing chapters. Last but not least, I am truly thankful for all my interviewees, bloggers, journalists and marketers, this couldn’t have come to life without your kind help and insightful input. I am also thankful to everyone who helped me get access to my interviewees or the media platforms I studied. El Sayed, 3 ABSTRACT This research looks at how the shift in the status of Egyptian bloggers from underground dissident voices to mainstream political and media players affected the plurality they add to the public space for discourse in Egypt’s authoritarian settings. The role of the internet – and more recently social media and bloggers – in democratic transition has been studied by various media scholars since the introduction of the worldwide web and especially after the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings of 2011. But no work has been done to study how bringing those once-underground bloggers into the public and media spotlight affected the nature of the blogosphere and the bloggers themselves. Star bloggers were not only covered by the media after January 25th, 2011, they also started joining the media as column writers; a move that had various effects on them and the blogosphere but was never examined in media studies. The plurality the blogosphere adds to the Egyptian public space for discourse in light of those changes as well as in light of the financial and practical sustainability of blogging was hence never looked at in a context similar to Egypt’s. Guided by modified theories of the public sphere and theories of hegemony and manufacturing consent, I look at whether bloggers have been co-opted into the historical bloc in the process of renewing the social order and how this affects them and the online sphere. Also, guided by theories of power and media elites, I look at bloggers’ backgrounds to assess whether they come from power elites and are transforming into media elites, thus limiting the plurality of the online sphere. Finally, guided by theoretical works on institutionalizing and commercializing the internet, I look at how those shifts into mainstream affect the independence and freedom of the blogs and micro- blogs. The research uses a comparative study to assess how those changes affect prominent versus less prominent bloggers and compare their backgrounds. The study uses quantitative content analysis and framing analysis of chosen media outlets and interviews with bloggers, marketeers and media professionals. The findings trace an increase in media coverage of bloggers post January 25th, 2011, especially in the prominent bloggers category, and an overall positive framing of bloggers post the uprising. This led to the mainstreaming of bloggers into the media as well as public work, which had various implications on the freedom they had over their content and voice, both online and offline. It also points to a dramatic decrease in bloggers’ activity on their blogs in favour of mainstream and social media and due to star bloggers becoming more career-oriented and their failure to make blogs financially sustainable. The findings also indicate that more prominent bloggers seem to come from more elite backgrounds than others and enjoy luxuries that allow them the time, technology and security to post online. This research concludes that the shifts in bloggers’ status post-January 25th have limited the plurality they add to the discourse in Egypt. El Sayed, 4 Chapter I: Introduction ……………………………………………….…p. 10 1.1. Theoretical positioning ……………….………...……………..…p. 10 1.2. Background to the research question ………….………………..p. 15 1.3. Identifying the research questions ……..………………...……...p. 20 1.4. Methodological orientation ……………………………………....p. 23 Chapter II: Conceptual Framework: ………………………….………..p. 27 2.1. The Blogosphere. ………………………………………….……...p. 27 2.1.1.Emergence and definition of ‘blogs’ …………………….....…p. 27 2.1.2. The Death of the Blogosphere? …………………...…….……p. 30 2.1.3.The public discourse in Egypt’s authoritarian setting…........…p. 31 2.1.4The Egyptian blogosphere …………………………………..…p. 33 2.2. The Public Sphere and the Blogosphere ……………….…….....p. 36 2.2.1. Public sphere and Habermas ……………..………….…...…...p. 36 2.2.2. Adapting modified theories of the public sphere to the online sphere …………………………………………………..……….p. 39 2.2.3. Utopian views of the internet and blogs …….………..…….…p. 41 2.2.4. Dystopian views of the internet and blogs ….………..…….…p. 42 2.3. Hegemony and Manufacturing Consent ……………..…..……..p. 48 2.3.1. Hegemony …………………………………………………….p. 48 2.3.2. Manufacturing consent ………………………………………..p. 52 2.3.3. Conceptualizing intellectuals ……………………………..…..p. 55 2.4. Theorizing Elites …………………………………………………p. 58 2.4.1. Power elite ……………………………………………………p. 59 2.4.2. Media elite and the blogosphere ………………………...……p. 62 2.5. Funding, Organizational theory and Institutionalization of Blogs / Blogs as a Business …………………………………………………...p. 66 2.5.1. Costs of blogging …………………………….………...……p. 67 2.5.2. Institutionalizing blogs …………………………………...…p. 68 2.5.3. Funding alternatives …………………………………………p. 73 2.6. Summary and Discussions …..………………….………..………p. 76 Chapter III: Methodology ………………………………………………p. 78 3.1. Introduction and Overview …………………………..………….p. 78 3.2. Literature on methods used and limitations ……………………p. 79 3.2.1. Qualitative and quantitative research and triangulation ...…..p. 79 3.2.2. Media framing and content analysis ……………………...…p. 82 3.2.3. Interviewing ……………………………………………...….p. 87 3.2.4. Collecting background data on blogs and the media …….….p. 91 3.3. Methods used and application to research questions …………p. 92 El Sayed, 5 3.3.1. Content and framing analysis ……………………………...p. 93 3.3.2. Interviews with bloggers, marketing executives and media professionals …………………………………………….…….p. 106 3.4. Reflecting on the Ethical Dimension of Interviewing Opposition Figures ………………………………………………………………...p. 111 Chapter IV: Contextualizing the Egyptian Media….……………...…p. 114 4.1. A turning point ………………….……….……….……….……p. 114 4.2. Media landscape and plurality……………….…………...……p. 118 4.2.1. Al-Ahram ……..……………………………………….……p. 119 4.2.2. Al-Masry Al-Youm ……………….……………..…….……p. 121 4.2.3. The Daily News Egypt (DNE) ………..…….………………p. 122 4.2.4. Ten PM ………..………………………….……..…………p. 123 4.2.5. Baladna Bel Masry ………..………………………………p. 124 4.3. Opinionated journalism.…………….……….…………….……p. 127 4.4. Conclusion and discussion………….……….…………….……p. 129 Chapter V: Media Findings: Image and coverage of bloggers before and after January 25th ………………………….……………………………p. 134 5.1. Findings from quantitative content analysis of offline media ..p. 134 5.1.1. Print ……………………………………..………………….p. 134 5.1.1.1. Al-Masry Al-Youm ……………………………….…..p. 135 5.1.1.2. Al-Ahram …………………………………………….p. 135 5.1.1.3. Daily News Egypt ………………….……………..….p. 136 5.1.1.4. Reflections and total statistics for quantitative analysis of print ……………………………...…………………………….p. 137 5.1.2. Broadcast ……………………………………….………….p. 139 5.1.2.1. Ten PM ……………………………………………….p. 142 5.1.2.2. Baladna Bel Masry ………………………………..….p. 143 5.1.3. Reflections and total statistics for quantitative analysis of broadcast ……………………………...………………………….p. 143 5.2. Findings from framing analysis of offline media ……….….…p. 148 5.2.1. Print ……………………………………….………..…….p. 149 5.2.1.1. Al-Masry Al-Youm ……………………………….…p. 149 5.2.1.2. Al-Ahram ……………………………..…………….p. 153 5.2.1.3. The Daily News Egypt ………………………..…….p. 157 5.2.1.4. Reflections and total statistics for quantitative analysis of print ……………………………………………………………p. 160 5.2.2. Broadcast …………………………………………………p. 165 5.2.2.1. Ten PM ………………………………………….…p. 165 El Sayed, 6 5.2.2.2.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Mesc November 2006
    The Newsletter of Middle East Studies Center, American University in Cairo November/December 2006 THIS MONTH’S FEATURE: HUMAN RIGHTS IN EGY P T WWW.AUCEGYPT.EDU/ACADEMIC/MESC/ Page 2 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: FROM THE DIRECTOR 3 JOEL BEININ THE CARAVAN DEBATE: AN OVERVIEW 4 GARTH HALL DESKILLING EGYPTIAN POLICE, PRIVATIZING TORTURE 6 HOSSAM EL-HAMALAWY HUMAN RIGHTS IN EGYPT: A SEARCH FOR A PUBLIC ATTITUDE 7 MONA HEIKAL HUMAN RIGHTS IN EGYPT: A 2006 CALENDAR 8 GARTH HALL LECTURE OF AMR HAMZAWY 13 LENKA BENOVA MAKING IRAQ’S OIL WORK FOR IRAQIS 15 RORY A. MCNAMARA BOOK REVIEW, HAMAS: POLITICS, CHARITY, AND TERRORISM 18 WILLIAM JON HUMMEL ALUMNI UPDATES 19 LENKA BENOVA Editor Garth Hall The views expressed here are those of their authors and not necessarily Editor J. Marshall Brown those of MESC, the editor, or the Associate Editor Rory A. McNamara Middle East studies program. Associate Editor Lenka Benova Associate Editor Danny Corbin OCTOBER 2006 Page 3 FROM THE DIRECTOR JOEL BEININ ‘Ashura and the City of Kar- being organized by Dr. Saad hope that everyone bala,” which was on display Eddin Ibrahim. It will take I had a restful ‘eid break at the Falaki Gallery from place shortly after Coptic and that we are all refreshed November 12-28. Christmas (January 6). For and ready to enter the sec- information, contact Dr. The Interdisciplinary Advisory ond half of the fall semester Saad’s student assistant, Committee has approved a with renewed energy and Maria Dayton at mariaday- proposal for a comprehensive commitment. [email protected].
    [Show full text]
  • Narration and Identity
    LUND UNIVERSITY STV 004 Department of Political Science Spring 2006 Supervisor: Anders Uhlin Narration and Identity Dealing with social and ideological heterogeneity in the Kefaya Movement Anna Sundell Abstract In authoritarian regimes all over the world, social movements have attracted atten- tion as loud advocators of political change. Where traditional channels for political opposition are closed, loosely organized networks have paved the way for new strategic coalitions. This phenomenon raises questions about the connection between networks, identity and social action. By using a narrative approach this essay tries to shed light on the shaping of a collective identity, and indirectly collective action, in groups composed of actors from disparate communities with strong identity constructions of their own. The result builds on a field study of the Egyptian reform movement Kefaya. By combining a narrative framework with theories of network conversations the study directs attention to the complex interplay of unity and diversity within the Kefaya movement. It refines the picture of how factions and individuals within an organization use narrative techniques to emphasize personal or subgroup identities. Finally the study underlines the importance of identity also in movements not primarily engaged with ‘identity politics’. Identities are connected to narratives about the world and thereby they are also one of the primary motives of action or non-action. The author requests a greater sensibility to these linkages in future social-movement research. Keywords: Narrative, Social Movement, Network, Identity, Egypt Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................... 2 1.1. RESEARCH QUESTION................................................................................................................. 2 1.2. AN OVERVIEW OF THEORY AND METHOD.................................................................................. 3 1.3.
    [Show full text]
  • Tesi Di Laurea APOSTASIA 2.0: Tante Voci Nessuna Identità
    Corso di Laurea Magistrale in Lingue, Economie e Istituzioni dell’Asia e Dell’Africa Mediterranea ordinamento ex D.M. 270/2004 Tesi di Laurea APOSTASIA 2.0: tante voci nessuna identità Relatore Ch. Prof. Marco Salati Correlatore Ch. Prof.ssa Ida Zilio Grandi Laureanda Sara Pasqualato Matricola 841286 Anno Accademico 2017 / 2018 Ai miei nonni, Giuseppe e Antonietta 1 INDICE p. 4 ﻻَ إِ ْك َراهَ فِى ال ِد ي ِن :Introduzione Muqaddima p. 10 Prefazione: - Stima degli apostati nel mondo islamico p. 13 - La posizione di al-Azhar e del Marocco riguardo l’apostasia p. 17 -Problematiche dell’ateismo nel mondo islamico contemporaneo p. 22 -La globalizzazione p. 26 p. 29 ”إن شاء هللا Laicitè“- -“Arabs without God” p. 35 -“Non ho bisogno di una religione per avere valori morali” p. 42 CAPITOLI 1. Cos’è l’apostasia? p. 46 2. L’apostasia nelle tre religioni monoteiste p. 49 2.1 -Apostasia secondo la Sharī’a, la Sunna e le scuole giuridiche p. 52 islamiche 2.2 -L’interpretazione degli studiosi: -Ijtihād, -Ișlāh p. 60 3. Principali cause di apostasia p. 63 3.1-Il ruolo del fondamentalismo p. 66 3.2- Il controllo delle autorità, religione e politica p. 71 3.3- La mancanza di risposte ai giovani p. 75 4. Celebri apostati nell’Islām 4.1 -il fulcro egiziano p. 79 4.2 Abu Zayd p. 85 4.3 Farag Foda p. 86 4.4 Nawal al-Sa’dawi p. 91 5. Il Panorama egiziano p. 93 5.1-Apostasia: tabù, reato, atto terroristico p. 99 5.1.1-Costituzione egiziana p.
    [Show full text]
  • Magisterarbeit
    MAGISTERARBEIT Titel der Magisterarbeit Aktiviert, organisiert und vernetzt euch! Politische Protestkommunikation im Netz am Beispiel der Ägyptischen Revolution Verfasserin Katharina Prinz, Bakk.phil. angestrebter akademischer Grad Magistra der Philosophie (Mag. phil.) Wien, 2013 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 066 841 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Magisterstudium Publizistik- u. Kommunikationswissenschaft Betreuer: Univ.- Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Duchkowitsch Ehrenwörtliche Erklärung Ich erkläre ehrenwörtlich, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbständig und ohne fremde Hilfe verfasst, andere als die angegebenen Quellen nicht benutzt und die den Quellen wörtlich oder inhaltlich entnommenen Stellen als solche kenntlich gemacht habe. Die Arbeit wurde bisher in gleicher oder ähnlicher Form an keiner anderen Universität eingereicht und auch noch nicht veröffentlicht. Die vorliegende Fassung entspricht der eingereichten elektronischen Version. Datum: Unterschrift: Danksagung Viele – mir wertvollen Menschen – haben eine wichtige Rolle bei der Entstehung dieser vorliegenden Arbeit eingenommen, dafür möchte ich gerne an dieser Stelle DANKE sagen. Mein größter Dank gilt meiner Familie und meinem Freund, sie haben mich seit jeher in jeder Hinsicht unterstützt, besonders in dieser intensiven Phase aufmunternde Worte gefunden und Geduld für so manche Höhen und Tiefen aufgebracht. Weiters ist es mir wichtig, ein Dankeschön meinen FreundInnen und StudienkollegInnen in Wien, sowie auch im Waldviertel auszusprechen. Durch so manche hilfreiche Tipps,
    [Show full text]
  • Media Coverage of the Military Council November 2011 the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information
    Media Coverage of the Military Council November 2011 The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information Introduction During the month of November, The most two important events at all were the attack on the Tahrir sit-in and the elections. The attack aimed at dispersing the sit-in forcibly, triggering hundreds of thousands of Egyptians to demonstrate. With the ongoing policing approach with the protesters, the sit-in continued and extended after 50 Egyptian had been killed, and thousands had been injured. On the other hand, attention towards the elections was relatively distracted by the events in Tahrir, despite being historic elections. The Military Council was the main focus of the media coverage, whether in relation to the Tahrir sit-in dispersal, or to the arrangements for the elections. Of the most prominent issues in the media scene in relation to the Military Council, Al- Selmi document was in the main focus by the beginning of the month, as well as the attempt to pass broad powers enabling the Military Council to control the capacities and and direction of the future state in Egypt, through constitutional articles. The controversy altered from the document, which the Islamic groups attributed to Ali Al- Selmi, the Vice Prime Minister, and was so reported by the mass media, to the military institution and the Military Council, especially after the violent handling of the sit-in which lasted for almost a week, leaving behind tens of martyrs and thousands of injured, among of which many lost their eyes. The monitoring results showed that Al-Wafd allocated the largest space (19832 square centimeters) to the Military Council, followed by Al-Akhbar (18789 square centimeters), then Al-Masry Al-Youm (13234 square centimeters), then Al-Shorouk (10693 square centimeters), and finally Al-Ahram (550.5 square centimeters).
    [Show full text]
  • Part Ii: Towards a New Form of a Client Regime
    The International Journal of INCLUSIVE DEMOCRACY, Vol. 8, Nos. 1/2 (Winter/Summer 2012) P a g e | 27 PART II: TOWARDS A NEW FORM OF A CLIENT REGIME Islamic “democracy” and “Brotherhoodization” The very first acts of the presently all-powerful MB, under Morsi as president, were highly indicative of the sort of “democracy” Islamists had in mind. The first case of a growing “Brotherhoodization” (as is called in Egypt the obvious attempt by MB to control the state’s institutions, i.e. the army, parliament, media, as well as the future constitution drafted by a committee selected by the Islamist majority in parliament) referred to the control of the media being established by Morsi, which often ended up with some blatant cases of attempted censorship. Thus, several journalists faced trial on the usual charge of “insulting the president,” including the long time nationalist activist and editor-in-chief of Egyptian weekly Sawt Al-Omma, Abdel-Halim Qandeel, as well as the editor-in- chief of weekly Al-Fagr, Adel Hamouda.1 Strangely enough, as Tony Cartaluci2 pointed out: While similar actions around the world beget howling indignation from organizations including Freedom House, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and IFEX ― not to mention the US State Department itself which underwrites each of these faux-human rights advocates ― there is not only absolute silence regarding this assault on “freedom of expression,” but, instead, a collective chorus of support from the Western media, hailing Morsi’s increasingly despotic dismantling of
    [Show full text]
  • The European Union Delegation to Egypt
    News Coverage prepared for: The European Union delegation to Egypt . Disclaimer: “This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of authors of articles and under no circumstances are regarded as reflecting the position of IPSOS or the European Union.” 1 . Thematic Headlines . Domestic Scene Minister of Interior: We’ll stand up to Raids on Public Facilities Elections Updates in al-Ahram Revolutionaries Call on MB Youth to Join Jan 25 Protests Separating Between Religion and the State Creates Conflicts Mussa with Ban Ki-moon Obama’s Success Linked to Abu Ismail’s Billion Pounds for NGOs Baradei: I Will Not Quit Politics Egypt Formally Asks IMF $3.2bn Loan SCAF Forms Media Commission To Offer “Truth Spain Prosecution Agrees to Extradite Hussein Salem’s Daughter FJP: Constituent Assembly Will Be All-Inclusive Israel: Sinai a Terror Hotspot Dabaa Nuclear Plant Guarded by Popular Defense Committees MOI Warns Against Vandalism on January 25 All Sheikhs of Al-Azhar Will be in Tahrir Square Continuing Revolution Moussa Tackles Arab Spring Issues with UN Chief and Lebanese President NGOs Involved in Foreign Funding Case Await Probe Results April 6 Mobilizes Masses for January 25… Tantawi’s First Visit to Libya Grand Azhar Sheikh Meets Wael Ghonim FJP Nominates El-Katatny PA Speaker El-Fangary: Presidential Candidacy Mid-April First Unofficial Parliamentary Session in American Chamber Mubarak’s Attorney Starts His Pleading Today…… 2 Newspapers (17/1/2012) Pages: 1 Author: Muhammad Shuman Minister of Interior: We’ll Stand up to Raids on Public Facilities Minister of Interior Muhammad Ibrahim warned of bloody incidents on January 25, asserting that the Ministry would strictly deal with attacks against the public facilities.
    [Show full text]
  • Positions of Social Actors in the Egyptian Revolution: a Micro Level Analysis
    Positions of Social Actors in the Egyptian Revolution: A Micro Level Analysis Mısır Devrimi’ndeki Sosyal Aktörlerin Pozisyonları: Bir Mikro-Düzey Analiz İsmail Numan Telci1 Abstract Egyptians witnessed one of the most significant events in the country’s historical development, the so called 25 January Revolution. Anti-government protests started on 25 January 2011 and continued until 11 February of the same year, when President Hosni Mubarak announced his resignation. The revolution has opened the floor for sociologists and other revolution theory scholars as the most novel case in its kind which has similarities to, and differences from all other revolutions that happened in the history. Scholars of revolution emphasize that the most important element of a revolution is its actors. For this very reason, this article analyzes the perceptions, positions and philosophies of major actors of the 25 January Egyptian Revolution immediately before and during the revolution. Specifically, it examines the timing, demands, and claims of major opposition groups and challengers that participated in the revolutionary process. It concludes that almost all anti-Mubarak movements participated in the demonstrations and showed a unified stance against the regime. Regardless of their differences in philosophical orientations and social classes, revolutionary protests included Egyptians from socialists to liberals, seculars to Islamists, Muslims to Christians, who gathered in Tahrir Square and elsewhere, to topple Mubarak regime down. This modest work gives a “descriptive picture” of the persons, groups and organizations who made Egyptian revolution possible. Keywords: Revolution, Egypt, 6 April Youth Movement, Muslim Brotherhood, Facebook. 1 PhD Candidate & Research Assistant, Department of International Relations, Institute of Social Sciences, Sakarya University.
    [Show full text]
  • Labour Protests in Egypt: Causes and Meanings1 Rabab El-Mahdi∗
    Review of African Political Economy Vol. 38, No. 129, September 2011, 387–402 Labour protests in Egypt: causes and meanings1 Rabab El-Mahdi∗ Political Science Department, American University of Cairo, Cairo, Egypt Egypt has experienced a wave of unprecedented labour protests since December 2006. Refuting moral economyand rational choice arguments as abasis for understanding labour unrest in Egypt, this paper argues that this wave of protests is an outcome of the rupture of the hegemonic ruling pact governing Egypt since 1952. As such, this movement, which includes both industrial workers as well as white-collar state employees, should be interpreted beyond its immediate material demands. Rather, thepaper argues, thechanging constituency,tactics,andinternalorganisationofthemovementallpointtothepotentialrole that it can play in further eroding the corporatist–authoritarian structure governing state- society relations in Egypt. The paper concludes that this movement might be carrying the potentialforwiderdemocratisation. Keywords: labour; Egypt; corporatism; protests; movement; authoritarianism Introduction During the past few years Egypt has witnessed, in its labour movement, ‘the largest social movement in over half a century’ (Beinin 2009, p. 77). For decades the idea of Egyptian labour as an active agent within the public sphere and civil society seemed little more than a myth or, at the very least, a legacy not supported by any visible action. And while there has been important labour action during the past five decades, this was both limited and sporadic, and did not expand to include workers outside the locale of contention (i.e. the specific plant or workplace). Subsequently, it did not result in new organisational forms of labour and certainly did not include white-collar state employees.
    [Show full text]
  • Discussing Citizenship in Egypt: a Comparative Study of the Post-2011 Political Debate
    Arab Citizenship Review n8 Discussing Citizenship in Egypt: A comparative study of the post-2011 political debate Mohamed Elagati Nouran Ahmed Mahmoud Bayoumi1 Translation: ShaymaaElsharkawy Language Editing: Sally Rabei 1 Mohamed Elgati was the lead researcher, together with Nouran Ahmed and Mahmoud Bayoumi as assistant researcher, all at the Arab Forum for Alternatives. The authors would like to thank ShaymaaElshakawy for the translation and Sally Rabei for the editing. EUSPRING CONTENTS Introduction ............................................................................................................. 2 Citizenship and the nature of the state .............................................................. 2 State-religion relations in practice: the constitutional debates ............... 2 Equality in rights as an approach to citizenship ............................................ 2 Freedom of Assembly and Association as an aspect of citizenship ........ 2 Freedom of Opinion and Expression as Core values of citizenship ........ 2 Citizenship, and the public and personal liberties ........................................ 2 Citizenship and the legal equality of marginalised groups ........................ 2 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 2 EUSPRING INTRODUCTION Having simultaneously evolved theoretically and in political practice over centuries, the concept of citizenship is one of the most complex in political and social sciences. It correlates
    [Show full text]
  • Why Nations Fail
    Why Nations Fail the origins of power, prosperity, and poverty Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson Acem_9780307719218_5p_all_r1.indd 5 27/01/2012 17:35 This paperback edition published in 2013 First published in Great Britain in 2012 by PROFILE BOOKS LTD 3A Exmouth House Pine Street London ec1r 0jh www.profilebooks.com First published in the United States of America in 2012 by Crown Publishers, a division of Random House Inc. Copyright © Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, 2012, 2013 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Book design by Leonard Henderson Maps by Melissa Dell Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY The moral right of the authors has been asserted. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978 1 84668 430 2 eISBN 978 1 84765 461 8 Cert no. TT-COC-002227 Acem_9780307719218_5p_all_r1.indd 6 27/11/2012 18:56 Contents Preface • 1 Why Egyptians fi lled Tahrir Square to bring down Hosni Mubarak and what it means for our understanding of the causes of prosperity and poverty 1. So Close and Yet So Different • 7 Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora, have the same people, culture, and geography.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Media in the Arab World: Leading up to the Uprisings of 2011
    Social Media in the Arab World: Leading up to the Uprisings of 2011 A Report to the Center for International Media Assistance By Jeffrey Ghannam February 3, 2011 The Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), a project of the National Endowment for Democracy, aims to strengthen the support, raise the visibility, and improve the effectiveness of media assistance programs by providing information, building networks, conducting research, and highlighting the indispensable role independent media play in the creation and development of sustainable democracies around the world. An im- portant aspect of CIMA’s work is to research ways to attract additional U.S. private sector interest in and support for international media development. CIMA convenes working groups, discussions, and panels on a variety of topics in the field of media development and assistance. The center also issues reports and recommendations based on working group discussions and other investigations. These reports aim to provide policymakers, as well as donors and practitioners, with ideas for bolstering the effectiveness of media assistance. Marguerite H. Sullivan Senior Director Center for International Media Assistance National Endowment for Democracy 1025 F Street, N.W., 8th Floor Washington, D.C. 20004 Phone: (202) 378-9700 Fax: (202) 378-9407 Email: [email protected] URL: http://cima.ned.org About the Author Jeffrey Ghannam Jeffrey Ghannam is an independent media consultant, attorney, and veteran journalist. Since 2001, he has served in numerous media development efforts and was awarded a John S. and James L. Knight International Journalism Fellowship in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon. He has trained journalists in Morocco, Lebanon, and Jordan, and conducted media evaluations in Qatar and Egypt in U.S.
    [Show full text]