The French Institute in Cairo, in conjunction with the Supreme Council of Culture held a very important seminar, Monday, May 11, titled, "The state in a globalized frame: Remodeling the state in an open world". Prominent French sociologists partook in the seminar as well as Arab and Egyptian sociologists and politicians. In Reality, the modern country needs thorough reading into all of its aspects. We reckon that its sovereignty dwindles due to political, economic and cultural globalization. It's safe to say that the Westphalia state model (named after the famous Westphalia Treaty), which was established as the new independent state with full decision-making authority, for internal and external affairs, has a distorted image by now, especially after the rise of bigger entities like the European Union holding absolute powers. Decision making is now up to the union provided it reaches a unanimous consensus. Globalization and its rapidly escalating culture have had a deep impact on the modern world and in particular the Communications' Revolution which opened unbounded markets affecting local communities and their awareness of real-time events. The contemporary Arab state has a very specific historical background, as all Arab nations belonged to the Ottoman Empire. That is why Bertrand Badie, the Iranian-French researcher conducted a very important comparison between Western and Arab states in his book "The Two Countries". There was, however, a hiatus in the modern Arab country's history when most Arab countries regained their sovereignty, including Egypt after the Anglo-Egyptian treaty and Algeria, ending the French colonial rule and Mandate in Syria and Lebanon. This is how the independent Arab state came to life, focusing on development to annihilate retrogression, even if it contradicts political freedom. The epitome of this vision came with Egypt's 1952 Military Coup, led by Gamal Abdel Nasser and the whole Free Officers Movement, which didn't take long to become a full-on revolution with a reformative vision adopted by the Far Right, the Far Left and in between. This national project was soon disrupted by the 1967 defeat, highlighting the fact that social justice wasn't enough and had to be complemented by democracy. Egypt evolved under Mohamed Ali's rule (1805-1848), who had his own "imperial project", later taken down by colonialism. Yet another "civilized project" came along, executed by Khedive Ismail (1863-1879). The liberal project followed with the 1919 Revolution and the 1923 Constitution came in effect until July 23rd, 1952. The national Nasserist (attributed to Gamal Abdel Nasser) took over from 1952 to 1970. It's safe to say that major changes occurred in the country and society as a whole after the 1973 war, when President Mohamed Anwar Al Sadat adopted a brilliant strategy, transitioning Egypt from communism to capitalism leading to a muddled situation and rift between the state and society. It was magnified during Mubarak's authoritarian era which led to the January 25 Revolution. It was a democratic uproar to denounce the looting of the country's resources to build fancy mansions on the outskirts of Cairo, thinking high walls could spare any confrontation with reckless "mobs". The revolution wasn't void of historical contradictions, the most evident of which is the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) taking to the polls and wearing a cloak of democracy with religion hidden underneath. Putting forth dogmatic slogans to con people into believing that religion was "the answer". The one-year MB rule exposed its greedy scheme to take over power and silence opposition. Its project was all about "Islamizing the state", threatening for the first time the very foundations of the state. Then came the June 30 Revolution as a "Public Coup" backed by the Egyptian Army. Events progressed after June 30; a new constitution was adopted and Sisi was elected president, a real step towards a full recovery of the state, following the Brotherhood's rule. The actual challenge will be laying down democratic foundations unmarked by social or cultural despotism.
