Soldiers, Spies, and Statesmen

Revolutions are difficult to understand, let alone predict. Egypt’s revolt last year was no exception. The military’s abandonment of Mubarak confused many observers, who had always assumed that the leader and the generals stood or fell together. But as the violence of the transitional period discredited the armed forces, academics fell back in relief on the same age-old assumptions about officers who rule from behind the scenes and change the figures on stage to preserve the status quo. In a cha