{"id":61708,"date":"2011-02-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/mubarak-resignation-gives-egypt-reason-to-be-cautiously-optimistic\/"},"modified":"2011-02-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-02-11T00:00:00","slug":"mubarak-resignation-gives-egypt-reason-to-be-cautiously-optimistic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2011\/02\/mubarak-resignation-gives-egypt-reason-to-be-cautiously-optimistic\/","title":{"rendered":"Mubarak resignation gives Egypt reason to be \u2018cautiously optimistic\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Feb. 11, 2011 \u2013 With the world stunned by the news that Egyptian President Honsi Mubarak stepped down Friday, 溏心vlog免费B站 Assistant Professor of Political Science Kristin Johnson said there is reason to be \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d about the future of the country.<\/p>\n


\n\tEgyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak was stepping down and handing over power to the country\u2019s military. The announcement ended Mubarak\u2019s 30-year reign and led to thousands of Egyptian citizens celebrating in the streets.<\/p>\n


\n\tWhile any political transition of this magnitude is hard to predict, Johnson \u2013 who teaches international political economy, comparative politics and civil conflict \u2013 said today\u2019s announcement offers hope for the Egyptian citizens.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cObviously it is too soon to know for sure, but I am cautiously optimistic that this is a victory for the realization of self-determination and human rights for the people of Egypt,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n


\n\tBecause of the structure of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces – Egypt\u2019s military \u2013 there is a trust factor for the citizens that doesn\u2019t exist in all countries, she said.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe often suspect controlling military regimes to be of a nefarious nature, but in Egypt the military is seen a bit differently,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBecause all citizens must serve in the military there, there is a connection to the people. The military is viewed with a sense of legitimacy, and that is only heightened here when the military comes down on the side of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tWhile the mood is positive today, it will take time to understand the long-term impact on Egypt, and the rest of the world.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWhen you have a dictator for 30 years, there are going to be few institutions that are competent enough and able to institute the necessary groundwork for sustained stability,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThis is an opportunity, but there is no way of knowing yet what will come of it. New democracy does not have a good track record of survival. The evolution and transition process will need to be well thought out moving forward.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nJohnson cited Bolivia as an example where the military was able to step in and establish democratic stability. However, the situation in Iraq was far less successful. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cStructure is vital in any transition,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cYou may not necessarily like the structure, but it is good to have structure. Without structure, you are left with chaos.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n\tEgypt\u2019s international relationships are in a state of flux now as well, and will need to be watched closely. The key spots most people will pay attention to will be Israel and the Suez Canal, but Johnson said another area of the world paying particularly close attention is Northern Sudan.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThe prior administration of Egypt had been quietly very supportive of the Northern Sudanese government,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThe changes today don\u2019t necessarily mean that will change, but you can bet they are watching closely. Northern Sudan has not exactly been known for human rights, so that\u2019s a situation that bears watching. The geopolitical location of Egypt and the resulting impact will be very interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Feb. 11, 2011 \u2013 With the world stunned by the news that Egyptian President Honsi Mubarak stepped down Friday, 溏心vlog免费B站 Assistant Professor of Political Science Kristin Johnson said there is reason to be \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d about the future of the country. Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}