tian Media Scene Between Crises of Soft Power and Political Engineering

Summary

In this study, the researcher raises the controversy of relying on the approach of soft power as an approach to addressing the Egyptian media scene. In handling the recent crises of the Egyptian media, the author finds it difficult to choose between adopting the ‘soft power’ approach as an entry to addressing the topic, or the ‘political engineering’ approach, based on the regime’s authoritarian orientations that mainly focus on manipulation of minds, as described by American Sociologist Herbert Schiller in his book “The Mind Managers”. However, the ‘soft power’ approach is more related to the foreign policy while the political engineering approach mostly focuses on internal politics. Anyway, the conflict between various power wings in Egypt may involve both approaches, as it has been manifested in different crises experienced by the Egyptian political scene.