The Quest for Modernity: Secular Liberal and Left-wing Political Thought in Egypt, 1945-1958

by Meijer,Roel

• ISBN13: 9780700712472
• ISBN10: 070071247X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-01-07
• Publisher: RoutledgeCurzon

Summary

This book analyzes the political ideologies of the several highly influential liberal, socialist and communist thinkers, groups and movements which sought to modernize Egypt after World War II. Most of the representatives of these currents intended to transform Egyptian society completely through rapid industrialization, land reforms and economic planning, which would eliminate the peasantry, rationalize the economy and create a new Egyptian citizen who would live 'in accordance with the spirit of the age'. This book gives new insights into intellectual life during one of the most optimistic periods in Egyptian history, a time when Egypt was at the height of its power and believed a whole new future lay before it, uniting the Arab world and joining Asia and Africa in the common struggle for independence and dignity.

Author Biography

Roel Meijer teaches history at the Department of Middle Eastern Studies of the University of Nijmegen.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
Introduction	1	(6)
Theoretical Background	7	(7)
Civil Society and Political Culture under the British Occupation and the Monarchy	14	(7)
Civil Society the State, and New Modernist Trends	21	(16)
PART I: THE FORMATION OF MODERNIST POLITICAL THOUGHT
Liberal Reform: The Society of National Renaissance	37	(29)
Introduction	37	(7)
Political Reform Program	44	(7)
Social Reform	51	(8)
Conclusion	59	(7)
Authoritarian Socialism: Rashid al-Barrawi	66	(30)
Introduction	66	(4)
Ideological Sources	70	(7)
Laws of Development	77	(5)
Reform	82	(6)
Conclusion	88	(8)
Egyptian Communism and the Paradigm of the Front	96	(39)
Introduction	96	(4)
International and Local Background	100	(6)
Formation of the Egyptian Paradigm of the Front	106	(7)
The Nationalist Revolution	113	(6)
Reorientation	119	(7)
Conclusion	126	(9)
PART II: THE RISE OF AUTHORITARIAN MODERNISM
The Dilemmas of Reform, 1950--54	135	(38)
Introduction	135	(2)
The Failure of Liberal and Revolutionary Reform	137	(9)
The July Revolution	146	(11)
The Communists and the July Revolution	157	(5)
The March Crisis	162	(4)
Conclusion	166	(7)
Towards a Modern Society, 1955--57	173	(35)
Introduction	173	(5)
Economic Planning	178	(8)
Reorientation of the Liberals	186	(4)
Reorientation of the Communists	190	(11)
Conclusion	201	(7)
The Hegemony of Authoritarian Modernism, 1958	208	(38)
Introduction	208	(4)
A Modern Democracy	212	(6)
The Role of the Intellectual	218	(12)
Joining a Modern Civilization	230	(16)
Conclusion	246	(9)
Bibliography	255	(14)
Index	269