The reviewed book is called Tahrir’s Youth: Leaders of a Leaderless Revolution, written by Rusha Latif (2022, American University in Cairo Press). Sarah's review was published in The Middle East Journal.
The book explores the trajectories of Egyptian youth activists during the January 25 Revolution, the founding of the Revolutionary Youth Coalition (RYC) and demobilization after the 2013 coup. The revolutionary protests, argues Latif, were the results of decade-long efforts by youth networks. However, the loose organisational structure of the youth networks prevented them from successfully securing leadership thereafter.
Sarah argues that one of the book's strengths is its "careful exploration of organizational and ideological overlaps between the [youth] movement and the Muslim Brotherhood". Its conceptual contribution to social movement leadership, on the other hand, is strained as Latif does not make a distinction between the revolutionary movement itself and the youth revolutionaries.
Sarah Anne Rennick's research profile
