تجربة مصر الليبرالية

by Afaf Lutfi Al-Sayyid Marsot

Excerpt from the This book is written partly in an effort to explain to this and succeeding generations that each era has its glorious moments as well as its abysmal failures, and that posterity should judge a generation in the light of its times as well as in the light of history. By natural inclination this book would have concentrated on the social history of the period. But, alas, some of the political information concerning 1922-1936 is unknown to Western readers, and it is lopsided to write a social history where the political aspects are shrouded. For that reason I ask the reader's indulgence for recounting the rise and fall of cabinets as though that were the sum of a country's history, but the cause and effect of such changes in themselves mirror the ruling elite with its alliances and alignment and reveal its attitude toward society, and vice versa. Nonetheless some of the chapters of the book are concerned with giving a picture of Egyptian society economically, socially, and intellectually, with showing how the political activities of the time impinged on the facets of society, and with how society reacted to the politics of the age.

399 pages

First published February 1, 1977

About the author

Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid-Marsot is an Egyptian-born historian, professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has written on the history of Egypt since the eighteenth century.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid Marsot’s Egypt’s Liberal Experiment is a relatively straightforward history that argues for the failure of its eponymous topic between 1922 and 1936. This failure, however, was not due to any intrinsic problems with Islam, but was the product of political, social, and economic circumstances, with the obstructionist British presence acting as an aggravating factor. In arguing against the belief that Islam and modernity are incompatible, the author presents an argument that may have gone against the disciplinary grain at the time, but is now accepted widely and has been addressed with much more nuance and depth. The work is, therefore, one of more historiographical interest than a narrative that will offer much that is new to scholars of the field.

Following her introduction, Marsot begins with an examination of the historical context leading up to the 1919 Revolution, focusing particularly on the peasantry, which she feels is most critical to understanding Egypt’s relationship to modernity. The sum of her argument in this chapter is that conditions in the country were unsuitable for the establishment of a genuine democracy due to the lack of an educational base, class stratification, and communication networks. She then follows the career of Wafd politician Saad Zaghlul and presents a more-or-less typical history of the period between 1919 and 1924 that suggests that Egypt’s “independence” in 1922 was too qualified to allow for a truly democratic system. The author then continues by narrating the Wafd’s tumultuous first era in power, where its failure to keep campaign pledges and its autocratic tendencies led to a steep decline in popular support. The British were able to take advantage of this by fragmenting the political scene, which in turn allowed them to immobilize and control it.

A floundering economy and an increasingly oppressive political scene eventually forced the British to recall their hardline High Commissioner, George Lloyd, and replace him with the more amiable Percy Lorraine. Despite wanting to maintain the current government, Lorraine acknowledged that he needed the Wafd in power, which he in turn hoped would help establish a new treaty between Egypt and Britain. Once the Wafd came to power, however, it found itself unable to come to negotiate a new relationship between Egypt and its de facto colonizer. This outcome was blamed on the Wafd’s intransigence, primarily by the British, although the population as a whole lost support for the party as well due to what it perceived as political stagnation. With party leader Mustafa Al-Nahhas’ resignation, King Fuad engaged a gambit intended to seize political hegemony and placed a puppet government in power under Ismail Sidqi. Political infighting, as well as British control, prevented the other parties from uniting to overthrow Sidqi, but the economic and political situation continued to decline, leaving Britain in an increasingly vulnerable position. A scandal in the Sidqi government, the death of King Fuad, and the threat of an Italian invasion combined to bring all parties back to the table and agree on a new treaty in 1936.

Constitutional government returned and a relatively less qualified independence was achieved under this agreement, but the growth of popular movements that had begun during the difficult times of the 1930s was not slowed. In particular, Misr al-Fatat arose as an organization seeking complete independence, but many others sought (unsuccessfully) to escape the three-way power struggle between the palace, the Wafd, and the British. Marsot’s final two chapters examine socioeconomic factors and intellectual trends that were occurring during her period of study. In terms of the former, her overall conclusion is that there was a lack of a social consciousness among politicians, although there was limited in progress in several areas. In terms of the latter, intellectuals tended to gravitate more towards the extremes of pro- and anti-westernism in their thinking as political stagnation grew more entrenched, with Islamic modernists attempting unsuccessfully to maintain the middle ground.

Thus, the liberal experiment of the era failed, but it had little to do with Islam and much more to do with a political scene dominated by segregated, self-interested elites and a population lacking the resources and infrastructure to overcome this situation. Overall, Egypt’s Liberal Experiment does not really stand out in the canon of interwar political studies, but there is nothing particularly problematic about it either. As mentioned earlier, this text would be of more historiographical interest to field specialists, while non-specialists will likely find it dry and difficult to approach. Nonetheless, as Marsot is a well-established author, it may be worth perusing in order to gain a better understanding of the author’s academic breadth.

[د.محمد · Rating 2 out of 5]

كتاب صغير حجما كتبته كما ذكرت الدكتورة عفاف في مقدمة الترجمة عام 1974 تحاول فيه قراءة فترة مهمة في تاريخ مصر الحديث أطلقت عليه تجربة الليبرالية حيث تناولت منذ اعلان الغاء الحماية الصوري في 1922 التكوين السياسي للجو السياسي والذي ارتبط بحزب الأمة القديمة بجناحيه اللذين انفصلا الجناح السعدي بالوفد والجناح العدلي بالاحرار الدستوريين .. تقلبت فيه بين الاشادة والتبرير والنقد احيانا اما للاصول الاجتماعية او حتي النكوص عن المبادئ كما ذكرت في فصل القبضة الحديدية عن حكومة الاحرار ومحمد محمود عابه ضعف الحالة النقدية الواضح في التعامل مع الوقائع التي ذكرتها كما عابه قلةالبحث عن الحراك الاجتماعي الذي اثر على الحالة السياسية فلم تبحث كثيرا في اصول الحزبين الليبراليين مثلا الاجتماعية وعلاقتهم بالاقطاع واثر ذلك على مطالبهم السياسية وقراراتهم كما أنه لم تستطع الوصول لسبب حقيقي غير الدوافع الشخصية للخلاف بين سعد ومجموعة الاحرار ... والذي عوضه كمثال كتاب الوطنية الاليفة لتميم البرغوثي وهو افضل في التحليل والنقد

[مايكل اشرف · Rating 3 out of 5]

اريد هذا الكتابpdf رجاء لمن يتوفر عنده
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[Wasp26 · Rating 5 out of 5]

فعلا من أسباب ثورة ١٩٥٢ فساد الحياة السياسية انتو مبتكدبوش.