Egypt’s unbreakable curse: Tracing the State of Exception from Mubarak to Al Sisi

ABSTRACT

This paper uses Giorgio Agamben’s State of Exception as a theoretical approach that allows us to see how emergency legislations operate in the region as mechanisms of control and dominant paradigms of governance. Relying on Egypt as a case study, this paper traces the significance of emergency rule throughout Mubarak’s era up until Al Sisi’s 2014 Constitution. It applies a four-stage analytical framework to investigate whether or not Egypt was indeed ruled by the exception throughout its turbulent recent history, while under the guise of Emergency Rule. In doing so, we aim to provide an analysis of the legal structures that shape Egyptian politics, while also adding to debates on the State of Exception, particularly on its application in the non-Western world.

KEYWORDS:

• State of Exception
• Agamben
• Emergency Law
• Egypt
• Arab Uprisings

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. ‘A state of emergency cannot be declared without the approval of a parliamentary majority. The state of emergency cannot exceed six months unless an extension is authorized through a popular referendum’. See: Dunne and Revkin (2011, March) Overview of Egypt’s Constitutional Referendum. Carnegie. Retrieved from https://carnegieendowment.org/2011/03/16/overview-of-egypt-s-constitutional-referendum-pub-43095.