The Impact of the Arab Spring from a Constructivist Perspective: The Case of the Muslim Brotherhood and Secular Groups in Egypt

Abstract

This study analyses the political transformation in Egypt following the Arab Spring within the framework of constructionist theory. The Muslim Brotherhood organisation, founded on Islamic values, has continued its existence in Egyptian political life as an actor that has been banned from time to time and integrated into the system from time to time. The organisation was embraced by the public with its social activities. Under Hosni Mubarak, who came to power in 1982, the Arab Spring process was reflected in Egypt and various movements such as 6 April, Kifaye, Khaled Said Movement were organised. In 2011, the Hosni Mubarak regime came to an end as a result of the popular movements that emerged under the influence of the Arab Spring, and Mohamed Morsi, supported by the Muslim Brotherhood, came to power through democratic elections. However, the military intervention led by Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in 2013 brought this process to an end. Since then, the Brotherhood has been represented as a ‘traitor’, ‘terrorist’ and ‘linked to foreign powers’ by the Al-Sisi regime, and this discourse has been disseminated through the media, legal and religious institutions. By marginalising the Brotherhood, the El-Sisi regime both legitimised its own power and established a social order in which the secular-national identity was redefined. The systematic exclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood from political life under El-Sisi's rule was realised not only through security policies but also through identitarian means. This study reveals how authoritarian regimes maintain their legitimacy through discourse production and identity construction.