Egyptian Foreign Policy

An account of Egypt's foreign policy decline following the Arab Uprisings, explaining the causes, consequences, and dynamics of this decline.

Egypt, traditionally an important regional power in the Middle East, has experienced a considerable decline in its national capabilities and regional influence since 2011, which has had significant implications for Egypt’s relations with other regional powers.

Here Nael Shama identifies the causes of this decline, which include Egypt’s economic downturn, deficiencies of its decision-making structures, and shifting regional power balances. The study draws on a number of regional case studies – such as the erosion of Egypt’s interests in the Nile Basin and the Middle East – to illustrate Egypt’s declining diplomatic power along its own borders, and in the wider region. Shama offers a crucial lens into enhancing our understanding of the multiple levels of engagement Egypt has in the Middle East, and the widespread consequences of its decline in influence, while also offering a valuable case study of how declining powers think and act on the international stage.