This paper examines Egyptian foreign policy in the wake of the January 25 Revolution. I elaborate on Susan Strange’s notion of ‘structural power’ and explore the ways in which Islamist rule is compatible with the ‘rules of the game’ of Arab foreign policy toward Israel and Palestine, which have since the 1970s centred on security, crisis management and bilateral solutions rather than addressing the root causes of the conflict or proactively addressing ongoing challenges. The paper evaluates the structural constraints on Egyptian foreign policy as well as the role of Islamist ideology as a domestic influence. I contend that a resilient US structural power, combined with a nuanced ideological approach to state power, help explain Egypt’s continued ‘moderation’ in foreign policy despite the revolution. The Brotherhood has long combined pragmatism vis-à-vis the state with idealism or utopianism vis-à-vis society. State power has primarily been seen as necessary to provide the space and security, and legal framework, for the flourishing of Islam in society. Empirically, the paper is based on a review of Muslim Brotherhood ideological approaches to the state and international relations historically, as well as more recent statements and actions of President Morsi and Islamist media commentary, focussing in particular on the period during and after the 2012 Gaza crisis. The Egyptian case, I show, suggests a need to rethink the role of ideology in international relations, in particular the presumed relationship between the norms and values underpinning foreign policy and the ideas binding state with society in the domestic context.