Structured Response 5

In the chapter, Wickham describes how Nasser was able to suppress all opposition to his regime in Egypt using a variety of techniques. Nasser was able to ban all opposition groups and most importantly created state control over areas that these groups had previously used to connect with the mass public. Diminishing the education of the lower classes also helped control them and not allow them to become acquainted with what the regime would consider new and dangerous ideas. Nasser focused on “helping” the lower classes, but these “entitlements” to them ended up difficult to uphold because of their high costs. As a result, this policy of a “social contract” for state redistribution appeased the lower classes but ultimately failed.

Wickham claims that is was more than just repression that allowed the Nasser regime to rule Egypt so forcefully. Not just repressed, the country’s youth was silenced by the “economic, political, and ideological incorporation by the Nasser regime” (Wickham 35). Short term, this was a successful strategy, but over time economic recession, military defeat, and political crisis all allowed the formerly oppressed citizens to come forward and reject the regime’s failure. In replacement of the Nasser regime came successors who tried to “devise a new formula of legitimacy” (Wickham 35) in which they attempted to create new ties between the state and educated youth. However, the new regimes only made the distance between youth and state large, thus allowing Islamic groups to take control of the region.

Now, after the Arab Spring in the Middle East, Islamic governments have become a sign of stability and comfort to those in the region who had almost grown accustomed to constant protests and violence. Islamic governments, like the Muslim Brotherhood ruling in Egypt, represent something that most Middle Easterners understand and have deep roots with. Many Middle Easterners also view secular and western reforms to be complete failures; they want their protests to bring about a government that is entirely their own – not created and implemented by western secularist who do not fully understand them. Unfortunately, many Islamic political movements are unorganized and without a clear plan for political reform, unlike western groups like NGOs or other organizations that have developed policies that could be implemented to create success in the region. These policies are well thought out and a result of extensive research and understanding, but it is difficult for the people of a Middle Eastern region to trust western influences. Therefore, the people of the Middle East are now turning to what they know best, religious groups like the Islamic political parties, to rule them after the chaos of the Arab Spring revolts.