He ruled not with the flamboyance of his predecessor but with a calculated calmness

Although he spent 30 years as Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak will be forever known for the end of his tenure, having been forced to step down following an 18-day nationwide rebellion against his rule.

But that was not the end of it. Mubarak became the first Arab leader in modern history to face a criminal trial; both in court and on live TV. It was an unprecedented scene that left viewers across the region as much spellbound as aghast. The once-in-a-lifetime spectacle was caused by the so-called Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 that swept up, and swept away, four Arab leaders, including Mubarak.

It was an inglorious end to three decades of rule, in which Mubarak, who died on Tuesday at the age of 91, ruled Egypt not with the flamboyance of his predecessor Anwar Sadat but with a calculated calmness that more likely suited the country and the times.

In the three decades of Mubarak’s presidency, he presided over the Arab world’s largest country, now with a population of 100 million, much of it poverty-stricken and with a high illiteracy rate. Unlike Sadat, who waged war with Israel and then reached a peace deal with Tel Aviv — the first of its kind between Israel and an Arab country — Mubarak leaned more toward a staid status quo, deciding not to rock the boat but trying instead to keep the vessel steady.

Mubarak’s years saw modest economic government performances, but corruption from the bottom up prevented more financial gains. He slowly built up an infrastructure that had dilapidated under Sadat. But his introduction of privatization set the ball rolling toward Egypt’s cost of living hitting the roof.

Mubarak’s unofficial anointing of his son Gamal as his heir apparent sat badly with a broad swath of the Egyptian public and was one reason for the 2011 revolt.

He also beat down an Islamist terrorist insurgency that rocked Egypt for several years in the 1990s.

And, while he constantly made it known he was all for democracy, he really wasn’t. It was, in time, seen as paying lip service. The media was constrained and opposition parties were effectively declawed. 

Mubarak’s years saw modest economic government performances, but corruption from the bottom up prevented more financial gains. 

Alaa Abdel-Ghani

On foreign policy, one of Mubarak’s major accomplishments was patching up ties with other Arab nations that had frayed or been severed after Sadat’s peace treaty with Israel. And, while he kept the peace with Israel, ties remained as cool as his demeanor.

Mubarak was ultimately cleared of killing protesters, but the die had been cast. History would remember him mainly for his exit and the “trial of the century,” as it was dubbed, that would follow.

When he became president, a foreign reporter asked Mubarak about Sadat. “I am not Sadat. I am Hosni Mubarak,” was the curt, some might say cheeky, reply. Mubarak was not a showman and was not into the “shock diplomacy” espoused by Sadat. Indeed, Mubarak never acted as if he was anybody but himself. That proved good enough for three decades.

• Alaa Abdel-Ghani is former deputy editor-in-chief of the Egyptian English-language newspaper Al-Ahram Weekly and an affiliate professor of journalism at the American University in Cairo.