Purely Politics

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Wed, 18 Sep 2013 - 11:10 GMT

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Wed, 18 Sep 2013 - 11:10 GMT

The military may be running the country, but one expert notes that this isn’t exactly martial law Réhab El-Bakry
 While Egyptians debate the full impact of the January 25 Revolution on the nation’s future, it is equally important to understand exactly what a country run by the military means in the short term. Maye Kassem, an associate professor of comparative politics at the American University in Cairo, says that while this is not the first time Egypt has been under the rule of the military, the entire scenario in which the military is functioning is entirely different.
 “Traditionally, martial law is declared when a country is at a state of war,” explains Kassem. “In the classical form, it means that the constitution is suspended and that the military has full discretionary power over the country.It is theoretically similar to the Emergency Law that Egypt has been under for 30 years, which again is designed to only be implemented under severe domestic problems, but certainly not for 30 years.”
According to Kassem, the series of circumstances that unfolded the evening of January 28, most notably the withdrawal of the police, were designed to create complete chaos in the country. “It is unheard of for the police to simply be unavailable [in] a country the size of Egypt for a full three days,” says Kassem. “This was a miscalculation on the part of the former regime, but also one that helped create this bond between the public and the military.” It is this bond, she adds, that is generating trust between the two.
“Egypt was under military rule in 1952 after the military coup that took place on July 23,” she says. “The difference is that, this time around, they are doing so in the midst of a popular uprising.This means that, while in 1952 the military functioned alone, this time around they are functioning in conjunction with the youth who actually carried out this revolution.”
Kassem notes that while technically a country functioning under military rules means complete implementation of martial law, this is not exactly the case in Egypt at the moment. “I think that there is a conscious decision made by the army that they will not implement martial law in the classical sense. This is likely because the people behind this revolution [took a gamble] on the fact that the army will eventually side with them and not the previous regime.They [the army] are enjoying a moment of full appreciation after being marginalized for a long time. This means that, at least psychologically, they are feeling that they are part of this process.”
What this translates into is a loose implementation of  martial law and the elimination of the Emergency Law. In fact, Kassem says right now, with neither laws being fully implemented, Egypt is under a pseudo law of both and therefore neither.
“There is this recognition that the masses are a power in their own right,” she explains. “Whenever you have this kind of situation, the best thing to do is to try to keep [life] as ‘normal’ as possible in order to maintain control over the public. Martial law literally means the suspension of all rights and freedoms, especially political [ones], and it’s kind of ironic that we are using this type of law to guarantee the creation of rights and freedoms, particularly political ones that had been suspended by the Emergency Law for years.”
And while this might not be the typical function of the military, the processes adopted so far by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces indicate that they are not interested in holding onto power for the long haul. Instead, Kassem argues, that this is a golden opportunity for the military to play a fundamental role in the creation of a strong civil state.She says that thus far, the actions of the military support their desire to be part of that process as opposed to being an obstacle to it. With the reforms promised on February 11 and 12 already under way, particularly the redrafting of several articles in the Constitution, the public has to simply trust that further reforms will come.

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