“Throughout the entire political process, even after its victory in parliamentary elections was assured, the brotherhood cooperated with the military and refrained from clashing with it. At the same time, it took care to placate and allay the concerns of other political groups by vowing it had no intention of monopolizing power. Throughout the entire process, the brotherhood tried to avoid being seen as aggressively taking power.

However, pragmatism is limited when it translates into losing power. The brotherhood’s open fight with the military over its demand for new cabinet appointments, its disagreement over the wording of the constitution and the fight to determine the degree of civilian supervision over the army – all of these issues required the brotherhood to act and to strengthen its positions.”

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