How to Fall in Love

Many nations in the Middle East and North Africa have come to

manipulate and control their societies through the state apparatus, effectively creating

cultures of dictatorship. Democratization has consistently remained an issue in this

region; however, countries retain authoritarian regimes with the face of Democracy due

to collective action problems and, more importantly, because of the oppressive and

restrictive nature of a dictatorship. In these nations, a stationary bandit unrelentingly

reaps from a struggling economy of individuals, subjugating the interest of the majority.

These countries remain in cycles of corruption and poverty that seem insurmountable. In

light of the recent political uprising in the Maghreb as well as Middle East, it is important

to examine the unbearable nature of these regimes that populations in countries such as

Egypt and Tunisia heroically disbanded through revolutions. I want to critically review

anthropological studies of the history and culture of oppositional entities in Egypt and

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how they are controlled—mainly Islamic opposition as well as secular. The ideas to

consider are the overall culture of corruption through Lawrence Rosen's (2006) studies

and, more specifically, the role of Non-governmental organizations and the politics of