Hosni Mubarak's legacy 15 years after stepping down: What remains in Egypt?
Today marks the fifteenth anniversary of the resignation of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, an event that constituted a pivotal turning point in the history of modern Egypt and the entire Arab region. On February 11, 2011, then-Vice President Omar Suleiman announced Mubarak's resignation and the transfer of power to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, bringing to a close a three-decade era and ushering in a new chapter fraught with challenges and political transformations.
To understand the nature of Mubarak's legacy, one must return to the historical context of his rise to power. Mubarak assumed power in October 1981, succeeding President Anwar Sadat after his assassination. He came from a military background, having been the commander of the Air Force and a hero of the October 1973 war. Throughout his rule, Mubarak adopted a strategy of maintaining stability and avoiding major political shocks, which led to political stagnation in his regime during its later years, with a continuous reliance on emergency law, justified by the need to combat terrorism and preserve national security.
On the economic front, Mubarak left a mixed and controversial legacy. His era witnessed a shift from a centrally planned economy to a market economy, particularly in the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s, with the implementation of privatization and economic reform programs. While these policies led to higher growth rates and increased foreign currency reserves, they coincided with a widening gap between social classes, a decline in public services, and rising youth unemployment—factors that fueled the January 25 Revolution.
At the regional and international levels, Mubarak succeeded in bringing Egypt back into the Arab fold after the boycott that followed the Camp David Accords, and he maintained strong strategic relations with the United States and the Gulf states. His era was marked by Egypt's pivotal role in the Arab-Israeli conflict, with Egypt acting as a permanent mediator. However, analysts believe this role diminished somewhat in the later years of his rule, in favor of other rising regional powers.
Today, after Mubarak's death in February 2020, the debate continues regarding the evaluation of his era. While some view it with nostalgia for a "time of stability" and security compared to the turmoil that followed 2011, others believe that the roots of the structural problems Egypt currently suffers from in infrastructure, education, and health lie in the policies of displacement and accommodation pursued by his regime for decades without any fundamental solutions.
