What lies now between Egypt and democracy is the transfer of power from the military, according to Gawdat Bahgat, a professor at the US National Defence University.

Dr Bahgat, an Egyptian-American, was speaking on Monday in a lecture organised by the Department of International Relations at the University, entitled Egypt After Mubarak.

“Egypt has been a land that worshipped its pharaohs. This uprising against its government is unprecedented in its history,” the academic said.

By taking the side of the people, the Egyptian military has been seen as instrumental in Hosni Mubarak’s downfall. However, Dr Bahgat warns against seeing the army – the 10th biggest worldwide – as speaking in one voice. Dr Bahgat’s comments came before it was announced on Wednesday that Mubarak-appointed Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq had resigned.

“A lot of people in the army are poor and uneducated, just like the rest of the Egyptians. The ones at the top were closer to Mubarak and, being human, they would want to cling on to power,” Dr Bahgat said.

He believes, however, that people will push very hard against the military staying in power and will see the uprising through. It was also in the West’s long-term interest to have democracy, he said. Aside from toppling a dictatorial regime, the uprising in Egypt – Dr Bahgat is reticent about using the word revolution – changed at least three assumptions the West had on Muslim societies.

“As an American citizen, I am very happy to see there was an uprising where they did not burn the American flag. These uprisings had little to do with foreign policy and were more related to jobs and the internal situation.”

The other big change was the role of women in the revolution: “I could not believe my eyes there were veiled women in the demonstrations; this is very different from the stereotype.”

He said this did not mean people did not harbour resentment against the US and Israel or that there was no gender inequality, “but maybe not as much as we think”.

Another myth he saw being dispelled was the apparent dichotomy between Christians and Muslims, as members of the two faiths united against the Mubarak regime.

He believes it is still too early to judge Mr Mubarak and noted that academics who had been studying the Middle East all their lives were taken aback by the sudden wave of happenings. The next few years, he said, would be very interesting in terms of who would replace the old regime.

However, he said that if one compared the situation in Egypt now to what it was before Mr Mubarak came to power, one would find the country was poorer than it was 30 years ago and this was the general situation in the Middle East.

Dr Bahgat does not think the Muslim Brotherhood is a threat, mostly because if in government they would have to be pragmatic and provide the country with jobs and deal with other countries.

Recalling a fight he had lost in high school when he took on someone much larger than him, he believes Egypt will honour the peace treaty it has with Israel, “because you never go to war with someone who is stronger than you are”.

The Obama Administration took some days to condemn Mr Mubarak because the ousted dictator had been “their man in the Middle East” but, by opting to be on the side of the people and not of the dictatorship, the Administration made the right choice.