Application of Shared-Democratic-Values Perspective (SDVP) in the Egyptian Context

There is an essential political theory about civil-military relations, and a critical framework associated with it which is the “Shared-Democratic-Values Perspective.” This framework can help us understand and analyze the relations between civil and military in Egypt after sweeping changes starting with the “revolution” in 1952.

It is known that after the 1952 “revolution,” the military’s role in politics came to the fore and dominated life in Egypt at nearly every level. This tended to create a gap between the military and civilians that gradually increased and deepened. This gap has widened further in the last decade. When examining the situation from this framework, we can see a significant impact on the relationship between the military and civilians, as well as on the democratic and social fabric of the country.

Historically, the “revolution” in 1952 was headed by the “Free Officers Movement”, thereby establishing a republic led by the military, giving the military huge influence in governance until now. Although the 2011 revolution was promising for a shift to a civilian-ruled country, it was followed by a military coup in 2013 that further cemented the position of the military in the governance of Egypt.

Looking back into the recent years, more precisely from 2014 to 2024, we would find that, because of the growing dominance of the military over all sectors with very limited or sometimes no civilian oversight, a heightened focus has been oriented towards dividing society into “military” and “civilian.”

Examining the factors of civil-military relations in Egypt, such as the military educational system, we obviously see that the focus was usually on technical and military competence rather than democratic or social values. This is in complete contrast to the Shared-Democratic-Values Perspective, which aims at incorporating an expanded humanities and social science education to foster democratic and social values within the military group.

Moreover, military education in Egypt is soaked in military strategy and operations, which further divisive the values and experience between the military personnel on the one hand and the civilians on the other. We also note that military academies in Egypt are isolated from civilian academic institutions, with the relationship often being the reverse: civilians must undergo military education to qualify for better positions, preventing the necessary interaction for military values to harmonize with civil society.

Türkiye can be an excellent example of the importance of education as a factor in the SDVP framework. Immediately after the last failed coup attempt in 2016, among the most critical decisions made was to form The National Defense University (Milli Savunma Üniversitesi). This university replaced the previous military academies and operates under the Ministry of National Defense. The reshuffle was carried out to provide more civilian oversight to these organizations and integrate more civilian scholars into the military education system. Serving military officers remain the primary student body, but civilians are also allowed to attain graduate and post-graduate degrees from its institutions. Lately, the The National Intelligence Academy (Millî İstihbarat Akademisi) was established under the Turkish Intelligence Agency (MİT) but led by civilians. Thus, civilians are also allowed to study and work there. This forms part of the interactive environment we are trying to investigate here.

This model is in many countries and was not invented by Türkiye. What is important here is the awareness of how crucial military education curriculum and process change can be in increasing civilian-military interaction, hence reducing the risk of coups while increasing mutual understanding and knowledge exchange — a need imperative to the whole system, society, and state.

Another critical point is that, due to the lack of interaction between military and civilians in day-to-day life, the gap between the military and civilians becomes large. The fact that most military personnel reside in isolated communities limits their exposure to civilian values and norms. Very few opportunities exist for them to participate in civilian activities, and there is a definite tendency to be more and more isolated from civilian communities in terms of values and ideas, as well as in terms of physical separation, with military and residential areas being far removed from civilian urban regions. This contributes to the military’s detachment from civilian societal values and forming a separate identity.

Military involvement in civilian sectors of the economy, infrastructure, and politics has been increasing over the past years. However, it’s essential to note that such participation occurs in a dominating form, not through integration. In almost all cases, the military perspective and interests dominate civilian considerations and values. Since this organized and continuous dialogue between civilian and military leaders is absent, there is a noticeable one-way lack of mutual understanding on their part.

Those growing distances pose significant risks to democratic and social development in Egypt. For example, the lack of shared-democratic-values weakens the base on which democratic governance and the state rests. A military not imbued with democratic and civilian values is always more inclined to support or establish an authoritarian regime. This stretches the distance further and, in ideal circumstances, improves civilian suspicion of the military, leading to civilians coming to perceive the military as an occupation rather than a protector, which leads to social fragmentation and instability.

A further grave risk is the potential for policy priorities determined by civilians to clash with those of the military. Military perspectives are always about security and control issues that, in most cases, conflict with civilian needs, and policies do not consider the social and economic problems of civilians but the benefit to the military, creating social tension. This point is very salient in the Egyptian case. The existing separation and lack of integration make the role of civilian oversight and accountability mechanisms very challenging, so the likelihood of abuse of authority and corruption is high.

This significant gap and lack of interaction and integration pose substantial risks to Egypt’s society and the state. Ultimately, this situation works against both the military and civilians. Military education should adopt a new comprehensive approach that combines democratic and social values with military values. It should increase interaction and understanding between the military and civilians and strengthen civilian oversight and accountability mechanisms. Without these measures, prospects for stability and democracy in Egypt will likely remain elusive.