There is a clear “split between a metropolitan elite and a populist hinterland” when it comes to political ideology, and Egypt is no exception, Gideon Rachman writes for the Financial Times. This divide is behind the rise of many right-wing nationalist leaders around the world who are disavowed by residents of big cities, suggesting that the majority of voter power actually lies with less educated, less affluent urbanites. In Egypt, for example, “many of the urban middle classes, who had campaigned for democracy in 2011, ended up supporting a military coup two years later because they feared the elected Muslim Brotherhood government was turning the country into a theocracy.”

What exactly is at the heart of this urban-rural divide? Part of it is the difference in education levels and socioeconomic standing — city dwellers, Rachman says, “are more likely to have travelled or studied abroad, or to be recent immigrants.” They are also less likely to be drawn to the nationalism-based rallying cry employed by US President Donald Trump and Turkey’s Recep Erdogan, which has vowed to create a “better” or “greater” version of their countries.