Sunday, February 27th, 2011
Left to Right, Sheila Carapico, Samer Soliman, Michael Reimer, David Blanks
I'm so impressed at the amazing revolutionary social movement achieved by the Egyptian people in the past several weeks to assert their legitimate rights to assembly and expression. I think it is obvious that there is still work to be done before we can call it a complete political revolution.
I'm most comfortable calling it a revolutionary social movement, but that it is premature to refer to what has happened as a political revolution. What the Egyptian protesters accomplished in terms of clearing space for mass expression and association can never be taken away, but we have yet to see a meaningful turnover of political power.
-Sheila Carapico, the department chair of political science.
The events of January 25, 2011 should definitely be called a revolution of the Egyptian people, as it was the accomplishment of Egyptians from all walks of life in large numbers.
It had clear demands of which primarily was the fall of the regime and the departure of Mubarak.
Of course the military moved at the end of the revolution to oust Mubarak and the group of corrupt politicians that were in government.
It is not a military coup, and the fact that the military stepped in does not take away from the fact that it is a revolution.
- Samer Soliman. Political science professor
The revolution in Egypt is now a revolution in progress and in a transitional period. We are going from the past clear authority to a more ambiguous form of authority. There has been some significant change, and certainly the ending of Mubarak's rule is a very significant change. But as we know, there are many institutions of the State that remain to be changed for this revolution to have reached its goals.
I am very optimistic and I think that Egypt will move to a more progressive situation soon and will have a successful change in the government.
- Michael Reimer. Assistant professor in the department of history.
From my perspective this is definitely a revolution. The word comes from the Latin, revolvere, which means to turn over, or to come around again, to revolve, and was most famously used in the modern context by Copernicus in the title of his book about astronomy, "On the Revolutions of Celestial Bodies" (1543). The following century, it was applied to politics in England: when King James !! Was overthrown in 1688, the movement came to be called "The Glorious Revolution," and hence the current use of the term revolution for changing a political order suddenly and completely. In this sense, Egypt has most certainly had a revolution, because the old regime has been removed due to an uprising of the people.
-David Blanks, history professor
