Book Talk

Counter-Revolution in Egypt: Sisi's New Republic

Featuring Hossam El-Hamalawy, Moderated by Bassam Haddad

Tuesday, 7 April 2026 | 1 PM EST

Organized by the George Mason Univeristy Middle Eastern Studies Program, cosponsored by Arab Studies Institute

Join us for a conversation with Hossam El-Hamalawy on his newest book, Counter-Revolution in Egypt: Sisi's New Republic, moderated by Jadaliyya Co-Editor Bassam Haddad.

The agents of coercion in Egypt – its military, police, and intelligence services – have been locked in a perennial struggle for power since their inception. Each institution has vied for dominance, shaping and reshaping the country’s political landscape. Yet, the seismic upheaval of the 2011 revolution forced these factions to put aside their differences and forge an alliance in the face of an existential threat: the revolutionary aspirations of the Egyptian people.

Hossam el-Hamalawy – a journalist and leading activist with personal experience at the sharp end of Egyptian repression – delves deep into the inner workings of the security apparatus. Counterrevolution in Egypt is a rare and comprehensive examination of the structures, hierarchies, and methods of the military, police, and intelligence agencies. Drawing on meticulous research, it reveals the strategies deployed to suppress the revolutionary wave, from propaganda and surveillance to mass arrests, torture, and extrajudicial killings. El-Hamalawy traces the power dynamics within these institutions to show how their uneasy unity was both a response to the revolution and a determinant of its eventual fate.

Featuring

Hossam el-Hamalawy is a journalist, scholar, and socialist from Cairo, who was among the organizers of the 2011 uprising. He has been involved in the labor movement and the fight against police brutality in Egypt. He holds a PhD in political science from Freie Universität Berlin and is the recipient of the 2011 Anna Politkovskaya Courage in Journalism Award. He publishes a weekly newsletter on Egyptian politics at 3arabawy.substack.com, and is the author of the forthcoming book from Verso, Counterrevolution in Egypt: Sisi's New Republic.

Bassam Haddad is Founding Director of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program and Associate Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He is the author of Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Stanford University Press, 2011) and co-editor of A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East (Stanford University Press, 2021). Bassam is Co-Founder/Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine and Executive Director of the Arab Studies Institute. He serves as Founding Editor of the Arab Studies Journal and the Knowledge Production Project. He is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film, About Baghdad, and director of the acclaimed series Arabs and Terrorism. Bassam is Executive Producer of Status Podcast Channel and Director of the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI). He received MESA's Jere L. Bacharach Service Award in 2017 for his service to the profession. Currently, Bassam is working on his second Syria book titled Understanding The Syrian Calamity: Regime, Opposition, Outsiders (forthcoming, Stanford University Press).