Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

Joshua Stacher

Joshua Stacher is associate professor of political science at Kent State University and an editor of Middle East Report. He is author of Adaptable Autocrats: Regime Power in Egypt and Syria (Stanford, 2012).

Current Analysis

Five Notes on Egypt's Crisis

Hani Shukrallah, the distinguished former editor of al-Ahram Weekly, laments [http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/4/0/59933/Opinion//The-decline-and-fall-of-the-Muslim-Brotherhood.aspx] the “decline and fall” of the Society of Muslim Brothers from a partner in a diverse Egyptian nation to a narr

Joshua Stacher • 4 min read

Current Analysis

How the Army Won Egypt's Election

Jubilant chants echoed far beyond Tahrir Square when the Muslim Brothers' candidate, Muhammad Mursi, was confirmed as Egypt’s first civilian president last week. Mursi’s election was lauded across the globe, and many are hailing today’s “transfer” of power as a triumph for democracy. But there is l

Joshua Stacher • 3 min read

Current Analysis

Ordering Egypt's Chaos

To the left of a makeshift stage in a Cairo five-star hotel, the waiting continued. Ahmad Shafiq, the last prime minister of the deposed Husni Mubarak and one of two remaining candidates in Egypt’s first post-Mubarak presidential race, was three hours late. Fewer than 60 hours were left until voting

Joshua Stacher • 12 min read

Current Analysis

Despair and Continuity

Actions always speak louder than words, even if words also act.

Joshua Stacher • 2 min read

MER Article

Egypt's Generals and Transnational Capital

Before and after the ejection of Husni Mubarak from office, the size of the Egyptian army’s share in the economy has been a subject of great debate. The army is known to manufacture everything from olive oil and shoe polish to the voting booths used in Egypt’s 2011

Joshua Stacher, Shana Marshall • 19 min read

Current Analysis

Egypt Without Mubarak

Save the worsening snarls of traffic, March 19 was a near perfect day in Egypt’s capital city of Cairo. The sun shone gently down upon orderly, sex-segregated queues of Egyptians who stood for hours to vote “yes” or “no” on emergency amendments to the country’s constitution. Although there have been

Joshua Stacher • 19 min read

Current Analysis

Into Egypt's Uncharted Territory

Amidst the monumental Egyptian popular uprising of 2011, Plan A for the Egyptian regime and the Obama administration was for Husni Mubarak to remain president of Egypt indefinitely. They have now moved on to Plan B.

Hesham Sallam, Joshua Stacher, Chris Toensing • 12 min read

MER Article

Mohamed el-Sayed Said

Mohamed el-Sayed Said, a long-time contributing editor of this publication, died at the age of 59 on October 10, 2009. He was buried in his native Port Said. The intellectual elite of Egypt attended his funeral.

Jason Brownlee, Joshua Stacher • 2 min read

MER Article

The Brothers and the War

The shoes thrown by Muntadhar al-Zaydi at George W. Bush during the former president’s farewell tour of Iraq have added an icon to the international culture of protest. During Israel’s wintertime war on Gaza, which, according to the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health, killed more than 1,300

Joshua Stacher • 18 min read

Current Analysis

Boxing In the Brothers

The latest crackdown by the Egyptian state on the Muslim Brotherhood began after a student demonstration at Cairo’s al-Azhar University. Dressed in black, their faces covered with matching hoods whose headbands read samidun, or “steadfast,” on December 10, 2006 several dozen young Muslim Brothers ma

Joshua Stacher, Samer Shehata • 14 min read

Current Analysis

Hear Out Muslim Brotherhood

On a quiet, one-way street in Cairo’s middle-class Manial district, two bored security guards sit idly sipping tea. The building behind them houses a small apartment that serves as the main offices of the Muslim Brotherhood, the oldest Islamist group in the Middle East. In Egypt, the Brotherhood is

Joshua Stacher, Samer Shehata • 3 min read

MER Article

Damanhour by Hook and by Crook

On a November day in the sleepy Egyptian Delta town of Damanhour, around 1,000 townsfolk gathered in the central square to listen to Mustafa al-Fiqqi of the ruling National Democratic Party explain why they should vote for him as their parliamentary representative in two days’ time. Al-Fiqqi is a fo

Joshua Stacher • 6 min read