What are some of the main challenges facing contemperary egyptian society - Essay Example

Mubarak had inherited power after the assassination of Anwar al Sadat in the early 1980s. Mubarak continued to hold full power in Egypt up until the Arab Spring and the successful demonstrations, protests, and strikes that it entailed forced his regime from power and ushered in a new era for Egyptian governance1. Once Mubarak was ousted, the military of Egypt came to power in order to provide a transitional period under which democratic reforms could be enacted, democratic parties formed and elections held.

The election process saw two main candidates outperform a field filled with rivals. These two main candidates, Ahmed Shafik and Mohammed Morsi, then went on to compete in a runoff election on the 25th of June, 2012 which saw Mohammed Morsi win the majority of the votes as well as the presidency of Egypt. One of the main reasons that Mohammed Morsi won this election was due to the fact that he was able to successfully cast Ahmed Shafik as little more than remnant of Hosni Mubarak’s government.

In this way, tipping the scales in his favor among the general population was a much simpler task. However, many individuals remain unimpressed with Mohammed Morsi due to the fact that he represents the interests of the Islamic Brotherhood, an entity that has been vying for a greater share of power in Egypt since its inception in the late 1920s.2 Egypt was only Middle Eastern country to sign a peace treaty with Israel following the 1967 War. However, now that the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party has come to power; the nature of this unique relationship has been called into question.

Previously, Israel had successfully lobbied the Egyptian government to close border crossings from the Sinai into Gaza; however, with the ascendency of the party of the Muslim Brotherhood, these crossings have subsequently been reopened.3 This