When does a military defect? A comparative case study of Egyptian military's behavior during popular protests: The 1977 Bread Intifada, The 2008 Riot and the 2011 Arab uprising

ABSTRACT When Does a Military Defect? A Comparative Case Study of Egyptian Military's Behavior during Popular Protests of 1977 Bread Intifada, 2008 Riot, and 2011 Arab Uprisings In 2011, the MENA region experienced uprisings and social movements that culminated in either regime change or devastating civil wars some of which have continued to date. Several studies that emerged since then, argue that armed forces in the region played a key role in how riots proceeded and ended. Despite being possibly different from Arab Uprisings, several countries from in the MENA region such as Jordan and Egypt had witnessed significant riots, chief among them being in the form of bread riots, several times before. This thesis considers multiple cases of riots in Egypt under different presidents over the last forty years and aims to analyze and explain the role of the Egyptian armed forces in the development and end of these riots. It discusses how these uprisings broke out and assesses differing respones of the Egyptian military during these multiple cases, namely, the Bread Intifada in 1977, riots in 2008, and The Arab Uprisings in 2011. The question of why the Egyptian military abandoned President Mubarak in 2011 during Arab Uprisings while siding firmly with him in 2008 and Sadat earlier in 1977 forms the puzzle this thesis tries to untangle. Keywords: Arab Uprisings, Bread Riots, Civil-Military relations, Egypt, Military Defection.