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Students Name
Instructors Name
ENG 102
10 April, 2014
The Aftermath of the Lotus Revolution:
The Reasons behind the Spiral Failure:
A Research Outline
I.

Abstract

II.

Introduction
A. Topic: Success & Failure of Revolutions
B. History of past Egyptian revolutions:
a. The 1919 Revolution
a. Reasons behind the revolution
b. Achievements of the revolution
b.

The 1952 stemmed out of the previous revolution and achieved even more
than its objectives.

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a. Reasons behind the revolution

b. Achievement of the revolution
C. Finally was the outbreak of the 2011 2013 Revolution
a. Participants
1. The angry youth
2. People from all walks of life
b. Grievances
1. Unfair distribution of wealth
2. Police brutality
3. Interference of Mubaraks family in the ruling affairs of the
country
c. Demands
1. End of the Hosni Mubarak regime
2. End of emergency law
3. Freedom of expression
4. A responsive non-military government and

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5. A say in the management of Egypt's resources

D. Research question(s):
a. Why have we failed to reap any of the revolutions fruits whereas the
previous two revolutions achieved even more than their objectives?
b. Why has the situation gone from bad to worse?
c. Why is Egypt in a spiral of despair?
E. Thesis statement: The researcher attributes such failure to huge accumulations of
social, cultural and economic conditions that have formed a barrier to any
possible development or to the minimum achievement of the revolutions goals.
III.
A.

Literature Review
Historical Background
a. Revolutions in World History by Michael D. Richards
b. History of Egyptian Revolutions by Edward Allen Moor
B. Social Issues
a. Revolution 2.0 by Earl et al
b. The Unbridged Gap by Hassan El Masry
C. The Economic Factors
a. Economic Surveys published by the Danish-Egyptian Dialogue Institute
b. Businesses Sufferings by Farid Zakaria

IV.

Research Methods

The research applies the Triangulation Research Method

A. Historical data: Most prominent sources

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B. Interview:
a. Two professors of history and political science
b. two businessmen
C. Survey:
a. Respondents of different ages, gender, social and educational background
D. Findings: Analysis of responses has revealed a lot about the degree of
satisfaction with the current situation in Egypt.
a. More than 80% of the respondents dont feel any economic progress after
the revolution.
b. More than 85% of respondents think that neither Egyptian education or
Egyptian media help create a tolerant society.
V.

Conclusions
A. Topic sentence: The social state of affairs preceding the revolution accounts for a
lot of the subsequent instability.
a. Sub idea: Egypt has witnessed huge social gaps.

1.

Evidence: Unfair distribution of wealth has marked all aspects of life. As Michael Richards puts
it,

2.

Fragile social conditions turn into volatile political conflicts (86).

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b. Sub idea 2: Social injustice is hindering any possible agreements.

a. Evidence: Dr xxx believes that this will lead to an even more
aggressive wave of the revolution.
b. Evidence: 98% of the survey respondents do not believe that the
revolution has established social justice.
c. Evidence: 72% think that more rebellions are Very likely.
c. Sub idea 3: Frustrations were related to the bad performance of the regime.
1. Evidence: A majority of Egyptians thus feel that the government
treats citizens unequally (Earl et al 6).
B. Topic sentence: Another factor hindering any real achievement of the
revolutions goals is the cultural aspect.
a. Sub idea 1: the contribution of education and schools to the current state of
events cannot be missed.
a. Evidence: School books contain material that encourages
fanaticism and prejudice.
b. Evidence: 89% of respondents believed that school education plays
a culturally destructive role.
b. Sub idea 2: Media is mostly one-sided.
a. Evidence: Shuman argues that public opinion is manipulated to
suit the interests of businessmen and the regime.
c. Sub idea 3: the public denounces the influence of social media
a. Evidence: 80% regarded the influence of social media as
Absolutely Negative.
b. Evidence: 80% regarded Spreading obscene language as the
most serious drawback of Twitter.

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C. Topic sentence: The economic challenges hinder any real achievement of the
revolutions objectives.
a. Sub idea 1. The economy has suffered as a result of political instability.
a. Evidence: Unemployment has increased to 12.7 percent in 2012
b. Evidence: The budget deficit has reaching 11.7 percent in 2012
c. Evidence: Shortage of foreign currencies appeared
d. The Egyptian pound officially lost around 22 percent of its value.
e. Net international reserves started falling immediately after the
2011 revolution.
b. Sub idea 2: The political transition has not generated all the desired
outcomes.
a. Evidence: Dr. Samir Radwan believes that it is difficult to
anticipate how events will unfold (qtd by Hussein).
c. Sub idea 3: Media is partly responsible for the economic failure.
a. Evidence: The activists are permanent talk-show guests, whereas
economists are hardly there.
b. Evidence: An interview with two businessmen revealed their
obvious pessimism regarding the current economic state and the
future of investment.

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VI.

Recommendations:
A. Overcoming socio-cultural drawbacks,
a. A committee needs to be assigned to:

1.

study the content of humanities school courses

2.

3.

omit whatever inspires intolerance

boost culture of broadmindedness

b.

A code of ethics for journalists and TV hosts needs to be set with clear objectives for material
that is to be aired.
B. In the field of economics, it is strongly recommended that:
a.

The new government needs to address the following:

1.

allocating money to the basic needs of the population

2.

finding out the reasons behind the closure of 4,500 factories

b. a social contract between the government, businessmen and workers should
consider the following:
a. Minimum wages
b. A plan to reduce unemployment