The political science scholarly consensus has long held up Egypt as a paradigm case of “authoritarian resilience.” Analysts emphasized the Mubarak regime’s shrewd manipulation of elections, strangling of NGOs, and instrumentalization of protest to shore up its power. This narrative was momentarily disrupted during Egypt’s 2011 to 2013 revolutionary situation, but reappeared unchanged after the July 2013 military coup. A Dynamics of Contention (DoC) perspective sees the political world through different lenses. Where “authoritarian resilience” sees stability, DoC sees dynamism. “Authoritarian resilience” and similar social science models start with pre-constituted political actors, whereas DoC investigates how new political actors emerge and interact during episodes of contention. This article identifies three sites of contention that developed over the 30-year span of the Mubarak regime—elections; street protests, and legal mobilization—sketching how changing dynamics within these sites help us make sense of Egyptian politics before and after 2011.
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