157 © The Author(s) 2017 E.D. Jacob (ed.), Rethinking Security in the Twenty-First Century, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-52542-0_11 CHAPTER 11 INTRODUCTION Since the Arab Spring swept through Middle East calling for democratic reform, all but one state has become more repressive in nature. The bot- tom-up civil society mobilized revolution that called for reform, good governance, freedom, and democracy has been replaced with a new kind of authoritarian rule that is much more repressive and far more undem- ocratic than pre-revolution. However most of these post-Arab Spring nations are US allies that continue to receive much US aid even in the face of increased repression. This chapter will utilize the case of US-Egypt rela- tions to highlight how US foreign policy has changed in the region—from democracy promotion to stability maintenance, and how US aid has been used to mitigate the relationship between allies as one underwent major change. In post-Arab Spring Egypt, US policy has been unclear, but one strategy seems to dominate—it is better to get along with whoever is in power in order to continue security cooperation. While this strategy may seem to be securing the essence of what protecting one’s national security means, by engaging and cooperating with all sides, the USA emerged as an inconsistent and non-committal state whose “grand strategy” in the Middle East is unclear. Democracy and Stability? US Foreign Policy Post-Arab Spring Dalia Fahmy D. Fahmy () Political Science, Long Island University , North Brunswick, NJ, USA