More than two weeks after after Egypt’s military ousted the country’s first democratically elected president Mohammed Morsi, a panel began the task of amending the country’s constitution Sunday, according to the Associated Press.

Some have called it a military takeover, while others refer to it as a people’s ousting.

The diversity shown in descriptions of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s removal from office by the military high command is just one indicator of the country’s current divisions.

Just two years ago, Egyptian demonstrators deposed dictator Hosni Mubarak in favor of a democratic government, and then elected Muslim Brotherhood member Mohammed Morsi to the presidential office.

In the year that followed, Egypt’s economy, which was already faltering, continued to weaken as the country’s economic reserves dropped and the budget deficit grew to $28.5 billion, according to the Associated Press. Morsi experienced confrontations with the military, the Mubarak-appointed Supreme Court and liberal political centers.

To break through the resulting deadlocks, Morsi attempted to extend his presidential power and, consequently, faced massive popular protests. After failing to meet a 48-hour deadline to meet protesters’ demands for early elections, Egypt’s army removed Morsi from office July 3.

Now, as Muslim Brotherhood supporters of the former president clash with anti-Morsi groups on Egypt’s streets, people in the country and around the world wonder whether the ousting is a step toward or away from democracy.

In Columbia, students and members of the community connected to Egypt have varying opinions on the issue.

Ahmed Mohamady Abdelgawad, an Egyptian exchange student who spent his sophomore year at MU, is experiencing the ousting firsthand from his home in Cairo. He described the streets being filled with record numbers of anti-Morsi protesters, himself among them, in the days leading up to Morsi’s deposition. Abdelgawad calls Morsi’s removal “the people’s ousting.”

“Egypt was sinking every single day into a big hole,” Abdelgawad said.

He believes that the army acted as a representative of the people, Abdelgawad said.

“Even though (Morsi) was elected, (Egyptians) did put faith in the wrong person and so (they) had to remove him,” Abelgawad said.

He justifies the ousting by comparing Morsi’s leadership to “opening a can of food that says it will expire in 4 years, but when you opened it, it was rotten,” Abelgawad said.

Mohamed Elgebaly, a former major general who served in the Egyptian military under Anwar Elsadat and Hosni Mubarak, agrees that the military acted to represent protesters. Elgebaly, who moved to America in 2000 and now lives in Madison, Wis., explained Egypt’s military and its people are closely linked through blood ties.

“The relationship between the military and the people is different than (in America. Military service) is mandatory for men who have brothers and fathers under 60. Because of that system, there will always be a blood relative in the military. That is why people side with the military,” Elgebaly said.

This close linkage between civilians and the military makes it impossible, Elgebaly said, for the military to act against the will of civilian Egyptians.

On the other hand, Columbia resident Mohamed Alkomy worries the ousting is not representative and has destroyed Egypt’s young democratic system. An accountant in Columbia, Alkomy is an Egyptian citizen who has lived in the U.S. since 1992. He believes that Morsi’s deposition was not done in a positive way.

“We weren’t sure that we agreed 100 percent with the way Morsi govern(ed), but… gave all hopes that the (democratic) system (would allow for an) exchange of powers,” Alkomy said.

Alkomy worries that many Egyptians feel they are going back to square one in their pursuit of freedom. He disagrees with the term “people’s ousting,” saying that the army’s actions were only representative of one part of society that may not necessarily reflect the majority.

While people had been encouraged to participate in a democratic system in Egypt, they are now discouraged from joining in, Alkomy said.

Joseph Hobbs, a Geography professor at MU who has lived in Egypt and done research there, sees the ousting as an overthrow of a democratically elected leader.

“If the people elect a Muslim Brotherhood leader and he’s overthrown, that’s not democratic,” Hobbs said.

Naming some democratic alternatives to ousting Morsi, like holding elections and posing other candidates, Hobbs now wonders how the country will return to a democratic path.

He wonders how representative democratic elections with the participation of the Muslim Brotherhood, a party representing a significant number of Egyptians, can happen if candidates face the risk of being deposed by the military.

“If the Muslim Brotherhood is elected, will they be deposed again?” Hobbs said.

The ousting has also disillusioned many Islamist supporters of a democratic system, and Hobbs predicts that such groups may try to reach their goals in more radical ways, Hobbs said.

To determine whether the ousting will strengthen Egypt’s democracy, it is also important to examine the army’s motivations in deposing Morsi.

From August 2011 to August 2012, Colonel Eric Evans, a faculty member of the MU Extension, headed a Missouri National Guard support battalion deployed to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. He believes that the military was motivated in part by economic concerns.

“The military owns lots of companies, and are supportive of the revolution because they could lose a lot of money,” Evans said.

While acknowledging that the army gave up power to a civilian in appointing head of the Supreme Court Adly Mansour as interim president, Alkomy, too, wonders about the army’s motives. He contrasts the army’s recent initiative in ousting Morsi with its behavior during the 2011 revolution, when it waited for Mubarak to give up power before stepping in.

Elgebaly, though, holds that the military’s only motivation is to protect its country and people.

“The military did not (act) until millions of people were calling in the streets… the military and the people have the same objective: to (work toward) a better country,” Elgebaly said.