The causes and consequences of revolutionary change have long been the subject of scholarly debate. Through a systematic integration of political economic elements into an analysis of contemporary social transformations, this article joins this conversation by asking how Karl Polanyi’s double movement framework can clarify, and be extended by, the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. By embedding a nuanced account of neoliberalism in Egypt’s modern politics and by bringing those in dialogue with Polanyi’s theoretical apparatus, this article contends that there is a broad alignment between the first movement and the Egyptian neoliberal experience, a partial alignment between the second movement and the Egyptian Revolution, and a multilayered entanglement that implicates and encircles both movements. Not only does this research demonstrate that contemporary Egyptian history can find new currency in and be further illuminated by Polanyi’s political economy, it also critiques, complicates, reconceptualizes and extends Polanyi’s theoretical framework. In so doing, it redresses the underfocus of Polanyian political economy on the theory of revolution in general and the Egyptian Revolution in particular, problematizes extant accounts on neoliberalism and the double movement, and extends analyses between neoliberalism and revolution in political economy literatures. By clarifying our understanding of contemporary social change, this essay underscores how Polanyi’s work remains a pertinent, viable and valuable prism to examine momentous social transformations.

革命性变革的起因和后果长期以来一直是学术辩论的主题。通过将政治经济因素系统地整合到对当代社会转型的分析中，本文通过询问卡尔·波兰尼的双重运动框架如何阐明和扩展2011年的埃及革命，来加入这场对话。通过嵌入对新自由主义的细微差别的论述在埃及现代政治中，以及通过与波兰尼的理论手段进行对话，本文认为，第一运动与埃及新自由主义经验之间存在广泛的契合，第二运动与埃及革命之间存在部分的契合，并且纠缠不清牵连和包围着这两个运动。这项研究不仅表明当代埃及历史可以在波兰尼的政治经济中找到新的货币并为之进一步阐明，它也对波兰尼的理论框架进行了批评，复杂化，概念化和扩展。这样，它解决了波兰尼政治经济学对一般革命理论特别是埃及革命的关注不足，使现有的关于新自由主义和双重运动的论述受到质疑，并扩展了新自由主义与政治经济学文献之间的分析。通过阐明我们对当代社会变革的理解，本文强调了波兰尼的工作如何仍然是研究重大社会变革的相关，可行和有价值的棱镜。