Egypt: How Significant is the Muslim Brotherhood’s Election?

Egypt: How Significant is the Muslim Brotherhood’s Election?

 Hitching onto Shadi Hamid’s earlier comments on the rise of Muhammad Badie to General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood — namely that the MB’s “organizational commitments trump the beliefs of individual leaders” — Gregg Carlstrom of The Majlis doubts that the “election has much external significance, despite widely-publicized concerns that Badie (a conservative) will push the group to the right.”

 Expounding upon this point, Carlstrom echoes a Fawas Gerges post at The Guardian predicting that “the Brotherhood will be more preoccupied with increasing its membership…than lending a helping hand to the opposition.” If the MB maintains its non-violent rhetoric and avoids provoking the regime, Carlstrom believes that President Mubarak may tolerate the organization — but only if it doesn’t become more conservative. And in light of the MB’s “institutional inertia” and instinct for self-preservation, he expects the Brotherhood’s short-term politics to “remain largely unchanged.”

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