Ten years on from the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and around seven years since the July 2013 military coup led by Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, what are the elements of continuity and change in the politics of local governance in Egypt?

Since the very first days following the July 2013 coup d’état, Egyptian politics has undergone major changes in different aspects of institutional configuration that have affected most Egyptians. State violence has erupted and become arbitrary, ubiquitous and deadly. Political dissidents have either gone to prison or been exiled. Independent Egyptian-based media channels and newspapers have been shut down. Journalists, human rights activists and researchers have been persecuted. In just two years (2017–19), al-Sisi extended the nationwide state of emergency seven consecutive times. Emergency measures have become a principal paradigm of governance and the state of exception has become the dominant form of political life.

Under al-Sisi, furthermore, the state's fiscal health has continued to deteriorate. Unemployment rates have increased and foreign investors have not yet shown signs of interest in investing. The country's economic stability has become dependent on regional powers and is under the thumb of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Egyptian pound was devalued in November 2016, as part of an economic reform programme tied to a three-year, $12 billion loan from the IMF, causing a steep hike in core inflation of 32 per cent, and resulting in the cost of basic foodstuffs and fuel rising by 60 per cent. The Egyptian economy is unlikely to return even to the level of growth achieved under Mubarak. According to Springborg, Egypt is en route to becoming a ‘basket case similar to Yemen or Sudan’.

Egypt's economy under the al-Sisi administration has become dominated by a business empire led by the army. While the generals had taken a backseat in ruling the country since Sadat, the military now has expanded its penetration to various sectors of the economy, including agribusinesses, manufacturing, private and public construction, trade, the hydrocarbon industry, telecommunication and media production. As Zeinab Abul-Magd puts it: ‘In today's Egypt you cannot miss it: the omnipotent presence of the military institution everywhere across the country.