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.

While some observers and analysts tend to overvalue the role of the Brotherhood’s ideology in interpreting its behavior, I tend to adopt a more reality-driven approach. As I explained elsewhere, ideology is vital for any political movement, albeit in recruiting and mobilizing individuals, yet it is by no means sufficient to understand and explain the behavior and decisions of that movement. Given the long-standing record of the Muslim Brotherhood’s pragmatism — running elections, compromising with autocrats, allying with seculars and liberals, adopting wariness strategy, and so forth — it is quite hard to assume that its leaders have suddenly decided to change course and abandon their pragmatism.

It is certainly true that the Brotherhood’s behavior is baffling and vexing, however, this underscores the fact that the movement is far from being rigid or an immutable phenomenon. Therefore, instead of decrying or rebuking Morsi and the Brotherhood for their many faults, as some “observers” do, it is more useful — albeit for the sake of analysis — to understand and construe why they behave in such disturbing manner. Likewise, it is highly misleading and inaccurate to argue that the failure of the Muslim Brotherhood over the past few months was unavoidable due to its desperate hunger for power. True, the Muslim Brotherhood, like all political movements, is keen to grab as much power as it can (Isn’t this the very idea of politics?!); however, this is neither abnormal nor unusual for a movement that was for decades repressed, excluded and intimidated. Needless to say, this is not to justify the blunders of Morsi or the Brotherhood, but rather an attempt to fathom the intricacy of Egypt’s transition and its many problems beyond the current status of outcry.