Please select a reading from the section on “Resource Mobilization” or “Social Networks” and complete each of the sections below. When citing the source, you should consult the links to the APSA style provided on the class website under the Assignment link.
Article/Book Chapter Citation (APSA):
Shokr, Ahmad. 2011. "The 18 Days Of Tahrir". MIDDLE EAST REPORT 258.
The core theme of this article is the struggle of Egypt society for the possibility to choose. Mubarak that had been president during 30 years could not to deal with the people’s displeasure by the economic and social situation in the country. All cause the 18 hard and bloody days in the centre of Cairo – Tahrir square. There, Egyptian fought against regime.
Literature Review (Identify the major works, and the arguments of each cited by the author(s)):
Fighting against the regime is not an everyday fact. This is always associated with battles, screams, wrath and permanent conflict between elite and masses. There are many works about revolt of the masses and about political conflicts within a single country. All of them are unique and all of the descriptions are unique. The article analyzed is tended to focus on the fact, how the 18 days of rebellion were revealed. This is historical process, and cannot be analyzed as a regular magazine article. It is a detailed description of every day without using general phrases, but by giving unique specific examples.
Research Design: (What method or research design does the author(s) develop as a way of testing their argument?)
The description indeed looks like a life journal and a diary. Every event is described day-by-day. The author starts to reveal every important point by mentioning a date. Hence, it is fair to conclude that design is pretty much investigative and the author acts like an observer, by capturing every detailed and sentimental event. “The moment we were able to keep Tahrir was the happiest moment in my life” (Shokr 2011). This style of writing is not typical for news and newspapers – this is the emotional, open and loud style of research design.
Data: (What data and from which sources do the author(s) analyze?)
Being an editor and doctoral candidate, Ahmad Shokr is supposed to provide valid and truthful information. The data seems to be provided as a personal observation, since all of the descriptions are tended to be emotional, sentimental and personal. The second author is tended to use biographical method and thanks to the latter, it is possible to connect all the memories about the revolution in the chronological order, by focusing on the economical, political and cultural aspects.
Conclusion: (How does the author(s) structure their conclusion?)
Those 18 years of war, described not only by this author, remains to be a crucial part of the Egyptian history. The voice of the author is indeed epic: “Riot police fought bitterly to protect the territory, deploying their full arsenal of crowd dispersal weapons, but they failed” (Shokr 2011). In addition to the president's lustration, protesters demanded the government to fight with unemployment and to increase the minimum wage, by making the housing and food prices smaller. Economical and life safety issues will always be the most important within the everyday life, and it could not be neglected by political side.
