Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi—who has ruled the country since 2013, when he led a military coup against elected President Mohamed Morsi—appears at first to be a close student of another Egyptian ruler. Hosni Mubarak became president following the assassination of Anwar Sadat during a military parade in 1981. After decades of political paralysis, economic discontent, and increasing repression, Mubarak’s 30-year rule ended swiftly in an 18-day popular uprising in 2011. Judging by the violence Sisi’s regime has unleashed on Egyptians in the past few years, it seems that his biggest fear is that the crowds will fill the streets again.
Mubarak and Sisi were both products of the army. For the brass, the events of 2011—and the short and tumultuous democratic experience that followed—may well seem a mere interruption in the military’s long-term patriarchal command over Egypt and its citizens.
