Egypt’s Civilians Should Control Military

This article was originally published here at Politico.com on Thursday, July 4, 2013.

Was it a coup? This question has fueled a raging debate online — one that carries legal implications for the U.S. government — but it misses the point. Since July 1952, when the Free Officers under Gamal Abdel Nasser pushed King Farouk from power, the armed forces have dominated Egypt’s political system — a fact that Wednesday’s dramatic events only reinforced.

As President Obama stated after the military ousted Morsi, “the best foundation for lasting stability in Egypt is a democratic political order,” but Egyptians will not have a full democracy until they bring the military under civilian control. It will be a long and arduous process, but it is also one of the few promising democracy-promotion projects the United States can help Egypt undertake.

Egypt’s military has a long history of dabbling in politics — but not as much as one might think. After 1952, it never needed to undertake a coup, because the political system the Free Officers built was rigged to favor the interests of the armed forces.

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