The potential of Egypt’s soft power post Arab Spring
-
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.21511/gg.01(1).2017.02
-
Article InfoVolume 1 2017, Issue #1, pp. 12-16
- 1403 Views
-
674 Downloads
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
After being called ‘Hollywood of the East’, Egypt’s soft power has witnessed a decline from the start of the years 2000s; due to 9/11/2001 and its aftermath, until it reached its lowest point since the Arab Spring in 2011. The deterioration hit its media sector, arts industry, sports and diplomacy. However, since 2014 a revival for one of its soft power capabilities happened. Its diplomacy. Diplomacy is on the rise and has some potential to restore Egypt’s status as ‘an active’ regional player. To illustrate that Egypt is now a temporary Security Council member in the United Nations for two years. This status earned after a lot of recommendation from Arab, African and Islamic blocks in the Security Council. To win this seat it required a lot of diplomatic efforts and lobbying which were successful at the end after being absent from non-permanent membership in UNSC since 1997. The first signs of decline in its diplomatic power started in 2006. This was due to USA’s neglect for Egypt and putting a lot of pressure on it from Bush junior’s Administration to comply with US values and interests in the region. This has been accentuated in the Bush Doctrine and was a natural outcome of September 11 attacks in 2001. The argument in here is that despite the decline in Egyptian status on all levels, and its soft power among them, due to turmoil resulting from the Arab Spring yet Egypt still has potential for revival and gaining a leading role due to its soft power. This study will be based on qualitative analysis to prove the argument. A diplomat and an academic have been interviewed to further illustrate the ideas expressed in this article. There are a number of issues that show success in Egypt’s diplomacy to prove this argument since 2014.
- Keywords
-
JEL Classification (Paper profile tab)F51, F59
-
References10
-
Tables0
-
Figures0
-
- African Union to readmit Egypt after year long suspension. (2014). Al Akhbar English.
- Berenskoetter, F. and Michael Williams. (2007). Power in World Politics. Routledge, New York. Taylor and Francis.
- Bryon, A. (2015). Egypt takes leading role in fight on terrorism.
- El Fekki, A. (2015). Egypt elected as UN Security Council non-permanent member: Government efforts to acquire membership. Daily News Egypt.
- Ellwood, D. (2014). Soft-power is a flawed tool in foreign policy, but a valuable formof global leadership. LSE US-Center.
- Egypt & Peacekeeping. (2014). Cairo Center for Conflict Resolution and Peacekeeping in Africa.
- Kleiner, J. (2010). Diplomatic Practice Between Tradition and Innovation. World Scientific Press.
- Vincent, P.D. (2012). A Post-Revolutionary Egyptian Foreign Policy?Not Yet. Opinions on the Mediterranean. Instituto Affari Internazionali & the German Marshall Fund.
- Vincent, P.D. (2011). The Sad State of Egypt’s regional and foreign policy. Mediterranean Paper Series.
- Wilson, J. (2010). Egypt win Africa Cup of Nations for record third consecutive Time. The Guardian.