International leveraging and civil society: The case of the 2011 Egyptian uprising By Rebeka Gluhbegovic 26092540 Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Magister Artium (International Relations) Department of Political Sciences at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Pretoria Supervisor: Prof. Lorenzo Fioramonti March 2015 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Prof. Lorenzo Fioramonti, my supervisor, who has provided valuable guidance and has been patient with me. I would also like to thank my family and friends who have been an important source of criticisms, advice, support and who would push me when needed. Lastly, I would like to thank the Egyptians who, in spite of their frustrations at the current state of affairs in Egypt and the fact that their demands have yet to be met, have been kind enough to share their experiences and thoughts with me on the uprising. All of your support and input is much appreciated. i Table of contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................. i Table of contents ..................................................................................................................................... ii List of graphs ......................................................................................................................................... iv List of abbreviations and acronyms ........................................................................................................ v Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. vi CHAPTER I ............................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 1.2. Formulation and demarcation of research problem ................................................................ 5 1.3. Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 6 1.4. Limitations (and delimitations) of the research ...................................................................... 8 1.5. Structure ................................................................................................................................ 10 1.6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 11 CHAPTER II ......................................................................................................................................... 13 2.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 13 2.2. International leveraging ............................................................................................................. 14 2.3. International leveraging in the digital age .................................................................................. 20 2.4. Civil society ............................................................................................................................... 27 2.5. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 31 CHAPTER III ....................................................................................................................................... 33 3.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 33 3.2. ‘Old’ civil society in Egypt ........................................................................................................ 33 3.3. The Internet and emergence of a ‘new’ civil society in Egypt................................................... 36 3.4. The international connection ...................................................................................................... 40 3.5. Major movements/events during the 2000s ............................................................................... 42 3.6. The uprising ............................................................................................................................... 44 3.6.1. The build-up to 25 January 2011 ........................................................................................ 44 3.6.2. The protests ......................................................................................................................... 47 3.7. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 53 CHAPTER IV ....................................................................................................................................... 55 4.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 55 4.2. Internet and the uprising: The year of the protester ................................................................... 55 4.2.1. A look through numbers ...................................................................................................... 56 4.2.2. Citizen journalism and mainstream media ......................................................................... 60 ii 4.3. Messages to the world ................................................................................................................ 62 4.3.1 This is a popular uprising .................................................................................................... 62 4.3.2 The Mubarak regime is dictatorship and dictatorships fall ................................................. 65 4.3.3 Stop supporting Mubarak regime ........................................................................................ 66 4.3.4 Spread the word and show solidarity ................................................................................... 68 4.3.5. Regional waves of support .................................................................................................. 70 4.4. A boomerang effect? .................................................................................................................. 71 4.4.1. International reactions ........................................................................................................ 71 4.4.2. Egypt’s response ................................................................................................................. 75 4.5. The achievements of Interned-based international leveraging ................................................... 78 4.5.1. Bringing Egyptian protesters onto the global agenda ........................................................ 78 4.5.2. Re-humanising the protester ............................................................................................... 80 4.5.3. Strengthening accountability .............................................................................................. 81 4.5.4. Growing people-to-people solidarity .................................................................................. 82 4.6. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 84 CHAPTER V ........................................................................................................................................ 86 5.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 86 5.2. Overview of research ................................................................................................................. 86 5.3. Summing up the research findings ............................................................................................. 89 5.4. Problems encountered during the research process ................................................................... 95 5.5. Proposals for future research ...................................................................................................... 96 5.6. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 97 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................. 99 Appendix 1 – List of interviewees ...................................................................................................... 115 iii List of graphs Page Figure 3.1. Percentage of individuals using the Internet in Egypt 39 Figure 4.1. Percentage of Egyptians who are Facebook members 56 Figure 4.2. Purposes of Facebook usage by Egyptians 57 iv List of abbreviations and acronyms DSG Dubai School of Government EU European Union ICT Internet and communication technologies ITU International Telecommunications Union NDP National Democratic Party NGO Non-governmental organisation SCAF Supreme Council of Armed Forces UK United Kingdom UN United Nations URL Uniform Resource Identifier US United States USA United States of America v Abstract In the constantly