Das katalanische Unabhängigkeitsreferendum war weder legal noch legitim, argumentieren Julian Brückner und Sascha Kneip. In diesem Beitrag gehen die Autoren der Frage nach, ob es sich bei dem Referendum für eine Unabhängigkeit von Spanien um einen Staatstreich handelt, wie die spanische Zentralregierung in Madrid behauptet, und ob ein solcher Coup überhaupt demokratisch sein kann. Weiterlesen
Originally published on this blog in German on November 12th, 2013.
After the fall of the Mubarak regime in February 2011 and the ensuing 18-month “transitional period,” during which Egypt was ruled by a military junta – the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) – the Egyptian army once again intervened in the political fortunes of the country on 2 July 2013. In a television address, the minister of defence and commander-in-chief of the armed forces General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced the dismissal of President Mohamed Morsi, democratically elected only a year earlier, and the suspension of the controversial new constitution. In December 2012, despite the withdrawal of left wing, liberal, and Christian representatives from the Islamist-dominated constitutional convention, this constitution had been accepted by referendum with a very low voter turnout. Instead of returning power to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, General al-Sisi appointed the president of the Supreme Constitutional Court Adly Mansour interim president, instructing him to form a “technocratic government.” The army leadership wanted this government to remain in place for an indeterminate “transitional period” until early elections could be held. The measures were justified on the grounds that the president, who had emerged from the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, had been unwilling to engage in a “national dialogue” to end weeks of mass opposition protests against Morsi’s increasingly authoritarian style of government and the bad economic situation in the country. ((For an English translation of the television declaration by General al-Sisi of 3 July 2013 see: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/07/201373203740167797.html))
Nach dem Sturz des Mubarak-Regimes im Februar 2011 und der anschließenden 18-monatigen „Übergangsphase“, in der Ägypten von einer Militärjunta – dem Obersten Militärrat (SCAF) – regiert wurde, griff die ägyptische Armee am 3. Juli 2013 erneut in die politischen Geschicke des Landes ein. In einer Fernsehansprache verkündete der Verteidigungsminister und Oberbefehlshaber der Streitkräfte General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi die Absetzung des ersten im Jahr zuvor demokratisch gewählten Präsidenten Mohammed Mursi sowie die Aufhebung der umstrittenen neuen Verfassung. Weiterlesen