Tribal Political Culture and the Arab Revolutions in the Borderland of Egypt and Libya

The talk explores patterns of the tribal political culture in the borderland of Egypt and Libya with regard to the revolutionary events of the year 2011. Through vital kinship ties the Aulad Ali tribes have been involved in numerous national and transnational activities, besides and beyond the respective states. In the course of the revolutions in Egypt and Libya tribal politicians have successfully acted as producers of order in local, national and transnational arenas. Thus they represent a non-state form of political culture that comprises local and global models of political organisation and reasoning. This political culture goes beyond common stereotypes of the tribe as the antagonist of the modern state.