Repression, Cooptation, and Movement Fragmentation in Authoritarian Regimes: Evidence from the Youth Movement in Egypt
| Published date | 01 August 2019 |
| Author | Nadine Sika |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032321718795393 |
| Date | 01 August 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321718795393
Political Studies
2019, Vol. 67(3) 676 –692
© The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0032321718795393
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Repression, Cooptation, and
Movement Fragmentation
in Authoritarian Regimes:
Evidence from the Youth
Movement in Egypt
Nadine Sika
Abstract
How do authoritarian regimes fragment protest movements in the aftermath of mass protests?
How do protest movements deal with these authoritarian measures in return? Based on qualitative
fieldwork with 70 young people in Egypt from April until November 2015, I demonstrate that
regimes which face major contentious events and transition back to authoritarian rule, utilize
two main strategies for fragmenting protest movements: repression and cooptation. The main
literature on protest movements contends that regimes respond to protest movements through a
combination of repression and concession to offset movement gains and eliminate their motivations
for further protests. More concessions are believed to be effective in democratic regimes, while
more repression is effective in authoritarian regimes. However, the results of this fieldwork
demonstrate the importance of repression in addition to cooptation in authoritarian regimes,
which is largely ignored in the literature on protest movements. Cooptation is an instrumental
tactic for the regime in two manners: first it creates internal struggles within the movements
themselves, which adds to their fragmentation. Second, it facilitates a regime’s repression against
protest movement actors. This creates more fragmentation in addition to deterrence to the
development of new protest movements and protest activities.
Keywords
protest movements, authoritarian regimes, Middle East and North Africa, Egypt
Accepted: 30 July 2018
Analysis of contentious politics in authoritarian regimes has surged with the outbreak of
popular contestations in countries including China, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Tunisia,
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, The American University in Cairo, New Cairo, Egypt
Corresponding author:
Nadine Sika, Political Science Department, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, The American
University in Cairo, AUC Avenue, PO Box 74, New Cairo 11835, Egypt.
Email: nadinesika@aucegypt.edu
795393PSX0010.1177/0032321718795393Political StudiesSika
research-article2018
Article
Sika 677
and Egypt during the past two decades. The major thrust of scholarly work has concen-
trated either on the dynamics of contention from below, or on the authoritarian structural
factors that impede democratization from above. Most of the recent popular demonstra-
tions and uprisings, especially in Eurasia and the Middle East, have reaped only a modest
harvest of democratization. Therefore, it is worthwhile analyzing protest movements in
the aftermath of popular uprisings, specifically in regimes that are transitioning back to
autocracy. How do authoritarian regimes fragment protest movements in the aftermath of
mass protests? How do protest movements deal with these authoritarian measures in
return? The literature on social movements contends that regimes respond to protest
movements through a combination of repression and concession to offset movement
gains and eliminate their motivations for further protests and regime challenges (Goldstone
and Tilly, 2001). This literature further contends that in authoritarian regimes, repression
dominates regime reaction to protest movements (Beinin and Vairel, 2013; Bishara, 2015;
Cai, 2010; Della Porta, 2014; Goldstone and Tilly, 2001; Grimm and Harders, 2018;
Kurzman, 1996; Lawrence, 2017; Schock, 2005; Volpi, 2014). However, the literature has
not tackled the importance of cooptation in authoritarian regimes, which is extensively
analyzed within the scope of authoritarian resilience theories. Scholars who analyze
authoritarian resilience focus on the role of formal political institutions like parliaments
and political parties in coopting opposition, but they neglect the impact of cooptation on
protest movements (Brownlee, 2007; Gandhi and Okar, 2009; Gandhi and Przworksi,
2007). By analyzing the case of Egypt in the aftermath of the 25 January 2011 uprising
and by relying on semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 70 young activists
from April to November 2015, I argue that in regimes that transition back to authoritarian
rule after mass uprisings, the amalgam of repression and cooptation is important in frag-
menting protest movements. Cooptation of movement actors enables autocratic regimes
to repress other movement actors who pose a political threat to the regime (Frantz and
Kendall-Taylor, 2014), adding to movement fragmentation. This cooptation process is an
instrumental tactic for the regime in two ways: first it creates internal struggles within the
movements themselves. Second, it facilitates a regime’s repression of protest movement
actors. This creates more fragmentation and deters the development of new protest move-
ments and protest activities.
This article adds to the literature on social movement theory by borrowing the con-
cept of cooptation from the literature on authoritarian resilience. I argue that in author-
itarian regimes, repression and cooptation are vital strategies that are utilized for
movement fragmentation. To illustrate this argument, the article has two sections:
first, activism and protest movements in authoritarian regimes are discussed through
analyzing the context of mobilization and its political opportunities and threats.
Second, the main argument is constructed through a nuanced analysis of Egyptian
activists in the aftermath of Mubarak’s fall in February 2011 until Abdel Fattah al-
Sisi’s ascendance to power in 2014. By relying on semi-structured interviews and
focus groups with 70 young activists from April to November 2015, this article dem-
onstrates the extent to which repression and cooptation were effective in developing
political threats that fragment youth movements.
Activism and Protest Movements
Protest movements consist of informal networks among different organizations and indi-
viduals based on shared beliefs and solidarities. These networks are capable of mobilizing
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