All Policy Analysis by Eric Trager

Washington has little ability to influence the outcome of this week's election, in which most leading candidates appear disinclined to maintain strong relations with the United States. But it can encourage the Egyptian military to minimize the likelihood of another uprising.

Egyptian presidential candidate Abdel Monem Abouel Fotouh was a leading force in the militant Islamist student movements of the 1970s; one of the Muslim Brotherhood’s point men for aiding the mujahideen in Afghanistan during the 1980s; and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Guidance Office for twenty-two years. It should

When Egypt's Presidential Elections Commission disqualified Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Khairat al-Shater from the upcoming elections last week, the Brotherhood was angered, but not surprised. Egyptian law bans criminal convicts from running for president, and though al-Shater's 2007 conviction for belonging to an "illegal organization" -- namely, the Brotherhood --

In late May, Egypt will ostensibly hold its first open presidential elections in nearly six decades. But the Muslim Brotherhood suspects treachery. This past Tuesday's disqualification of ten presidential candidates, including Brotherhood leader Khairat al-Shater, has convinced the group that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which has

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted a Muslim Brotherhood delegation in Washington last week to better understand how the Islamist group will govern Egypt. It was a noble attempt at promoting intercultural political dialogue -- an engagement for which many in the American policy community, as well as academia

On Saturday, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (MB) announced the nomination of Deputy Supreme Guide Khairat al-Shater for president, cementing a critical shift in its political strategy. Although the group initially tried to manage Egypt's post-Mubarak transition by cooperating with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and secularist parties

Shortly after mass protests toppled Hosni Mubarak last February, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood sought to assuage fears of an "Islamist takeover" by making two promises to both the international community and to Egyptian secularist parties: that it would run candidates in fewer than 50 percent of the parliamentary races, and that

The recent ordeal of American democracy workers in Egypt was not so much about them as about Cairo's own internal power struggle.

Whether Egypt's military authorities are deliberately targeting pro-democratic NGOs or simply unable to stop others from doing so, one thing is clear: Washington's relationship with them is no longer worth $1.3 billion.

Testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. One year after mass protests toppled Hosni Mubarak, Egypt is heading in an illiberal, anti-Western direction. The ruling military council has employed deadly force against protestors, subjected thousands of civilians to military trials, raided

Maintaining leverage in Egypt requires demonstrating a willingness to use it -- particularly when vital U.S. interests are at stake, such as the safety of American citizens.

On January 24, Samuel Tadros, Eric Trager, and David Schenker addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Mr. Tadros is a research fellow at the Hudson Institute and a professional lecturer at John Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. Mr. Trager is the Ira Weiner fellow at The

A year after the ebullience in Egypt's Tahrir Square, an alliance between military autocrats and radical theocrats is viewed, sadly, as the best-case scenario.