Parallel Religious Revolutions in Britain in 1688 and Egypt in 2013

Thomas West · Sonia Alianak

May 2022 · Cambridge Scholars Publishing

About this ebook

Revolutionary periods, like Britain underwent in 1642-1688 and Egypt experienced in 2011-2013, are characterized by idealistic goals. So when and why did the idealistic goals of religious toleration and constitutional democracy in Britain and Egypt, as introduced by their respective post-revolutionary rulers James II and Mohamed Morsi, lead to counter-revolutions? Why did religion not stabilize regimes, (unlike Marx’s palliative or Alianak’s stabilization in times of crisis), but instead led to revolutions and counter-revolutions? This book explores these questions and provides an explanation by introducing a theoretical construct of the presence of sectarian strains in both countries that magnified the unwitting perceived “basic blunders” of these new and inexperienced rulers and hence led to counter-revolutions albeit with different end-results: a constitutional monarchy in Britain with the re-establishment of a “secure” Church of England and a return to a perceived non-sectarian military rule, an illiberal democracy, in Egypt.

About the author

Thomas West received his MA and PhD from the University of Texas. He spent 20 years teaching freshman English and sophomore literature classes at the University of Texas – Pan American, where he retired in 2009.

Sonia Alianak received her Master’s in International Relations and Political Theory from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, before receiving her PhD in Comparative Government and International Politics from the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently Full Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas – Rio Grande Valley, USA.