On The Relations Between Egyptian Secular Politics And Religious Politics Since The Beginning Of Mubarak Era

The relations between Egyptian secular politics and religious politics since the beginning of Mubarak era are very important parts of Egyptian politics.The secular politics in Egypt mainly consists Mubarak's authoritarian regime and secular oppositions and religious politics often refer to politic Islam led by the Muslim Brotherhood.The understanding of these two kinds of politics can help analyze current Egyptian political situation and grasp changes of Egyptian society.The relations between secular authoritarian government and the Muslim Brotherhood are essential to the secular-religious politics relations.A review in a way of history about Mubarak regime and Muslim Brotherhood can establish the fundamental structure of relations between secular politics and religious politics.On the one hand,the Mubarak regime had absolute advantages,using presidential power,People's Assembly,the National Democratic Party,the army and emergency laws to gain authority and control secular oppositions and political Islam;on the other hand,as a representative of Islamic revival movement,the Muslim Brotherhood possesses huge public support.Although the Brotherhood was under several repressions since its foundation,it still can use its powerful ability of mobilization and social service to survive with the moderation of its routine,becoming the major force that can stand against the regime.In the authoritarian politics of Mubarak,secular oppositions and political Islam faced Mubarak regime with both cooperation and conflicts,which is the prime feature of interactions between secular politics and religious politics.As part of secular politics,the secular opposition parties went through the suppression from the government.Moreover,the secular oppositions had to face up against the Islamic groups,which had way more public support and political mobilization abilities than the secular oppositions.Thus,the secular oppositions had to choose to temperately cooperate with the Brotherhood for political goals,but the differences between them in ideology and strength would turn them against each other in no time.Being the third party,Mubarak regime played the role of balancing them and even tookadvantage of it.The conflict between secular oppositions and Muslim Brotherhood facilitated the fraction of the Brotherhood and the New Wafd party from secular oppositions got weaker after being divided into different parties,making the regime in advantage strengthen the authoritarianism.Generally speaking,the relations between secular politics and religious politics in the Mubarak era have their own characteristics and factors.Mubarak regime was high in the dominant position in the relationship between secular politics and Islamic religious politics,trying to adjust Islamic politics to secularism on the basis of coexistence alongside with hostility against each other.Reasons behind what was happening between the secular government and Islamists are various.First,traditional secular politics since the modern times works as a leading factor;second,the government seized total control of the military and limited or even deprived rights of people by martial law in the name of national safety so that Islamism could be constrained;third,the relations between secular and religious politics are deeply affected by geopolitics and superpowers;next,the Brotherhood,which processed huge amount of public support,could attract more people in the time of social crisis to stand against the government.Finally,Mubarak's economic reform failed to make Egyptian economy better and Egyptians were trapped by problems like education,unemployment and health care.The corruption of National Democratic Party and Mubarak family brought more fiscal burden to the government,making people extreme upset and giving plenty reasons and social foundations for Islamic oppositions,which in turn forced the regime to strengthen its power.The contradictory and interactive relations between secular and religious politics since the beginning of Mubarak era show that the main reason of Egypt falling into crisis leading to revolution is the contradiction between the high monopoly of power of authoritarian government and the failure of social development.The limited democracy promoted in the Mubarak Era provided some space for Islamic oppositions and also maintained control of their actual political participation,leaving democracy with only its name.Both sides had consumed massive political and social resources in their fight,leaving the failure of social development unsolved and people's confidence heavily corroded.The fall of Mubarak regime,the inability ofsocial oppositions and the flash of Muslim Brotherhood regime have shown that no matter who is in power--secular politics or religious politics,those who want to solve the big and urgent social problems without social stability cannot get support from people and their regime will be illegal.