Structured Response-Sean OBrien

I think that General  Nasser was very smart in his "silence of opposition" technique. He was ruling in a way of "Authoritarian Popularism. It was a reaction to the imperialism that had been ruling the land for several centuries. He had mass support in the beginning. Part of that support was that all organized opposition was targeted. Security Units were placed on Campuses. So opposition was either banned or forced underground.
He had a "social contract" with lower-middle class educated youth, which in essence helped the regime survive as long as it did. Basically this social contract would provide goods/services to public for services. With this group he raised living standards. He did that by employment and subsidized food. He had originally cut funding to higher education for fear of revolts, but then in 1954 he changed his stance to this low-middle class youths. He lowered fee's for university, made eligibility easier. Higher education budget was raised by other 4 times what it had been the previous year, and primary school was doubled respectfully. The government needed more educated Manpower ie Engineers. He got 1/3 of the population educated at least with primary education in his Death in 1970. Unfortunately some of his policies such as a government job for any college graduate was too burdensome on the State. Programs like that were supposed to be temporary, yet they became permanent and burdened the state that much more.
In regards to the "post Arab revolts" i think that Islamists have appealed to that same base. Because a majority of revolution feelings and manpower was middle to lower class. it wasn't the rich, and it was also those with university degrees. This college group is very important and should not be overlooked. A lot of these countries have been under oppression for so long, such as Libya for 40+ years. So a prospect of islamic ideals at ballot boxes really seem like a good idea to this educated class. I would they are very energized and optimistic about what Islamic candidates are offering. Granted anything is better than what they had before, so I could many of the parties except for extremism becoming popular.