The ongoing confrontation between Egypt’s military and the Muslim Brotherhood has left the country in deep disarray.

Since the removal of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, on July 3, Egyptian politics have become increasingly dominated by the security forces. Not only has the army suspended all institutions elected after the Jan. 25 revolution, such as the presidency, the parliament, and the constitution, it has imposed a curfew in a dozen governorates, declared a state of emergency and has used lethal force against protesters, leaving hundreds dead or injured.

The effect of the military crackdown is to weaken the Muslim Brotherhood so that the group will not be able to return to political life anytime soon. When Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the army’s commander-in-chief, called for a “popular mandate” to fight “terrorism,” he reduced the Brotherhood to a security “concern” to be dealt with by force rather than a political issue to be resolved through negotiation. Not surprisingly, early attempts to end the political deadlock peacefully have failed. Egypt’s public and private media are backing the military crackdown, also portraying the Brotherhood as a “terrorist” organization and, as a result, legitimizing the campaign. Ironically, many secular intellectuals and writers are now publicly calling for eradicating the Brotherhood even as they are also coming under the heavy hand of the security forces for criticizing the army.

The crucial question is how to encourage a political reconciliation in the face of mounting repression. Can Islamists participate in democratic institutions, or will they give into a violent form of radicalization?