Mübarek sonrası Mısır'daki seküler-İslamcı kutuplaşmasının demokratikleşmeye etkisi

The Arab Spring which erupted in Tunisia in late 2010, has deeply affected Middle East politics. The revolutionary movements overthrew the authoritarian leaders, who had been in power for more than 30 years and they were then involved in democratization efforts in the region. Egypt, which is viewed as the heart of the Middle East was one of the countries to be affected mostly by the revolutionary movements. After eighteen days of protests, Hosni Mubarak could not resist the internal and the external pressures and had to resign. The revolution launched a new transition period in Egypt. In this direction, the revolutionary coalition, consisting of a pluralist structure mobilized against the Mubarak regime, faced many obstacles which complicated the transition to democracy. Political polarization between the Islamists and the secularists was one of the greatest obstacles to democratization, leading to the dismantling of the revolutionary coalition and the loss of many Egyptian lives. The main purpose of this study is to examine the reasons that have fed political polarization between the secularists and the Islamists in post-Revolutionary Egypt and to understand the role of polarization in the failed democratization process. Hence, the thesis will examine both the reasons behind the preservation of the authoritarian state structure and dimensions of political polarization in Egypt during the Morsi and Sisi periods. In this way, an evaluation of the failed democratization process in Egypt will be presented.