SUMMARY

The state of Egypt was granted unilateral independence by Great Britain –its occupying power since 1882- in 1922, after a series of revolts against the British regime. The country was however was not declared a republic until 1956, after the monarchy was ousted in 1953 and the military seized power. The first President of Egypt was Muhammad Naguib, who was succeeded by Gamal Abdel Nasser. Nasser was in turn followed by Anwar Sadat –famous for signing the 1979 peace agreement with Israel- who was assassinated by the extremist group al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya. Egypt´s current president in office is Abdal Fattah el-Sisi, who was elected in 2014.

Since the establishment of the Republic, Egypt has been ruled mainly by authoritarian military figures, having a parliament but lacking in free and fair elections and democratic rights. The governments that have ruled Egypt since independence have fought to suppress democratic change as well as Islamic extremism, and have instead adopted an ideology of secular Arab nationalism and -at times- Pan-Arabism. This nationalist stand, among other things, propelled Egypt into a series of wars against its eastern neighbour Israel, every time with less than satisfactory results.

Egypt has a tainted human rights record, achieved through violent suppression of democratic activists, Islamic extremist supporters and other civilians. Hard-handed dealings with civilian protesters and dissenters by security forces and police are what have made the Egyptian government involved one-sided violence.

The government of Egypt has been involved in the interstate, intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence