Beginning in Tunisia, and spreading to as many as seventeen Arab countries, the street protests of the 'Arab Spring' in 2011 empowered citizens and banished their fear of speaking out against governments. The Arab Spring belied Arab exceptionalism, widely assumed to be the natural state of stagnation in the Arab world amid global change and progress. The collapse in February 2011 of the regime in the region's most populous country, Egypt, led to key questions of why, how, and with what consequences did this occur?
Inspired by the "contentious politics" school and Social Movement Theory, Arab Spring in Egypt addresses these issues, examining the reasons behind the collapse of Egypt's authoritarian regime; analyzing the group dynamics in Tahrir Square of various factions: labor, youth, Islamists, and women; describing economic and external issues and comparing Egypt's transition with that of Indonesia; and reflecting on the challenges of transition.

Introduction
Bahgat Korany and Rabab El-Mahdi
Chapter One: The Protesting Middle East
Bahgat Korany and Rabab El-Mahdi
Part One: Authoritarianism: How Persistent?
Chapter Two: Concentrated Power Breeds Corruption, Repression and Resistance
Ann Lesch
Chapter Three: The Political Economy of Mubarak's Fall
Samer Soliman
Chapter Four: Dynamics of a Stagnant Religious Discourse and the Rise of New Secular Movements in Egypt
Nadine Sika
Part Two: Group Dynamics in the Tahrir Square
Chapter Five: Working Class Power in Egypt's 2011 Uprising?
Dina Bishara
Chapter Six: Youth Movements and the January 25 Revolution
Dina Shehata
Chapter Seven: Islamism In and After Egypt's Revolution
Ibrahim Al-Houdaiby
Chapter Eight: Women are Also Part of This Revolution
Hania Sholkamy
Chapter Nine: Back on Horse? The Military between Two Revolutions
Hazem Kandil
Part Three: Beyond the Immediate
Chapter Ten: Egypt's Civic Revolution Turns "Democracy Promotion" on Its Head
Sheila Carapico
Chapter Eleven: Democratization and Constitutional Reform in Egypt and Indonesia: Evaluating the Role of the Military
Javed Maswood & Usha Tarajan
Chapter Twelve: Authoritarian Transformation or Transition from Authoritarianism? Insights on Regime Change in Egypt
Holger Albrecht
Part Four: Looking Ahead
Chapter Thirteen: The Arab Spring, the New Pan-Arabism and the Challenges of Transition
Bahgat Korany