Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted by the Egyptian military this month. This comes less than two-and-a-half years after former President Hosni Mubarak was forced from office during the protests of the so-called Arab Spring.
Dr. Thomas Bartlett was the president of American University in Cairo in the mid-1960s, and served as interim president for the university from 2002-2003. Some of his family still lives in Egypt and he returns several times a year.
Bartlett points out that this is Egypt’s first experience with self government, after millennia of foreign rule and, more recently, a military dictatorship. Egypt’s entrance into democracy, Bartlett says, is bound to be difficult. He’ll join us to tell us more about what to expect on the path to self-government.
Dr. Thomas Bartlett will speak at The World Affairs Council of Oregon on Friday, July 12 at noon.
What experience do you have with Egypt? What do you expect to happen in a post-Morsi Egypt?