The talk sheds light on the local dynamics of transformation in Egypt since 2011. Based on the conceptual reflections of both critical political science and anthropology of the state, Cilja Harders presents a "state analysis from below". What are the structures and actors of the local political field ? How are informal

and formal institutions linked and how does this play into local power dynamics. Did these dynamics change after 2011 and why so?

Cilja Harders is the director of the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Politics at the Otto-Suhr Institute for Political Sciences at Freie Universität Berlin. She has extensive research experience in the Middle East with a focus on Egypt since 1992, and is currently directing a cooperation project with Cairo University funded by the German Academic Exchange Service, entitled “Challenges and Transformations in the Wake of the Arab Spring”. She has published extensively on Transformations and Authoritarianism, Politics “from below” and Local Governance, Arab-European Relations, Foreign Policies after September 11th, Gender and Violence, and Gender and Participation.