Social cohesion and the 2011 Egyptian Revolution: Social cohesion between Muslims and Copts during and after the Arab Revolution
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2022-03-07
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en
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During the Arab Revolution in 2011 Copts and Muslims were protesting side by side on Tahrir Square and the tension between them seemed to have decreased. The main goal of this research is to understand if and how revolutions can improve intergroup relations between opposing groups. Therefore, this thesis focuses on social cohesion between Copts and Muslims during and after the Revolution of 2011. This empirical situation is chosen because little research has been done so far on social cohesion in empirical settings. The aim is to give an insight in the role of social cohesion and intergroup relations, with the initial objective to analyze what is needed for social cohesion between groups to remain after the initial contact situation is over. The following research question was formulated: How has the Arab Revolution affected social cohesion between Egyptian Copts and Muslims? The analyses and conclusions of this thesis were gathered by a mixed method approach. The methods used in this thesis are a combination of qualitive research in the form of nine semi-structured in-depth interviews and quantitative research in the form 57 online surveys. The findings of the research indicate that the Arab Revolution fostered conditions that increased social cohesion between Muslims and Copts. Indicators of social cohesion like Allport’s four conditions, trust, and identity were researched. The data showed that during the Revolution Muslims and Copts generally scored higher on these indicators and after the revolution these indicators decreased. The indicators for social cohesion decreased noticeably more significantly for Copts than for Muslims.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen