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Egypt's Brotherhood Struggles To Govern

The Muslim Brotherhood’s incompetence to date in governance is because of its lack of political experience, not its Islamist ideology, Khalil al-Anani writes.
Egyptian presidential guards stand on a tank behing the presidential palace's gate as protesters gather in front of it in a show of opposition to Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood on February 1, 2013 in Cairo. Egyptian security used water cannon and fired shots into the air as protesters threw petrol bombs and stones into the grounds of the presidential palace, an AFP correspondent said.  AFP PHOTO / KHALED DESOUKI        (Photo credit should read KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images)

The failure of Egypt’s postrevolution regime is evident. It accentuates the fact that Egypt’s path toward a functioning democracy neither will be easy nor peaceful. However, the exigent question is: Why have President Mohammed Morsi and his patron, the Muslim Brotherhood, failed, so far, in running Egypt’s transition?

There are two ways to answer this question. The first is short and easy, ascribing this failure to the Brotherhood’s ideology and its hunger for power. The second — which is the tougher one, providing an intricate answer — is pertinent in the ability and readiness of the Muslim Brotherhood, as a social and political agent, to adapt to the new environment and realities that emerged in Egypt after the revolution.

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