Egypt from Nasser to Mubarak: A Flawed Revolution

by Anthony McDermott

Ever since Nasser overthrew Prince Farouk in 1952, Egypt has held a special, leading position within the Arab world. It is now facing major problems, the most serious of which are the growing strength of the Muslim fundamentalists, continuing population growth and external debt problems. Together, these are creating a volatile and potentially explosive climate.In this book, the journalist Anthony McDermott examines the development of Egypt from Revolution to the present, describing various features of Egyptian society and the contributions of its leaders. He asks whether Egypt has fulfilled its expected role as the model for Arab and developing countries or whether the peace pact made by Sadat with Israel was a major error, causing Egypts withdrawal under Mubarak from the centre of international politics.The book is lively and readable and provides a challenging introduction to the development and problems of the largest country in the Middle East.First published 1988.

323 pages, ebook

First published December 20, 2012

Reviews

[Sara Razek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apart from the book’s journalistic style (should be condoned for McDermott worked for the Guardian and later the Financial Times), I enjoyed the anecdotes which the author deployed in order to reveal the nuances of modern Egyptian society. The socioeconomic analysis was focused and touched upon the main ills which have characterized Egypt’s economy for so long, namely lack of vision on the government’s part in charting a national economic policy, and its reliance instead on the volatile sectors of tourism, oil (& recently gas) exports, Egyptian workers remittances and the Suez Canal. A situation, which in the long run, has created total dependency on foreign aid, and hence Egypt’s economy fell prey to the ever-changing global geopolitical and economic circumstances.