Egyptian revolution of 2011: Contentious repertoires and Egyptian innovation

Sammanfattning: This paper examines the influence on the Egyptian revolution of 2011 by preceding social movements and historical acts of contention. This is made possible through examining the history of contentious performances from the birth of the social movement up until the twenty-first century, and then comparing the results with the uprising in Egypt. The purpose of this paper is to assess and attempt to trace whether the social movement in Egypt was inspired by its predecessors and whether it made use of experience accumulated by earlier social movements. The research question is based on the hypothesis that social movements make use of accumulated experience from earlier political struggles but that there is also a cultural aspect as to how the experience is applied. The results of this paper indicate that the social movement in Egypt has been inspired by earlier social movements and imitated parts of their performances. There is however cultural aspects, and new use of technology which has been made part of the same routine.