Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

Robert Springborg

Robert Springborg is a professor in the Department of National Security Affairs of the Naval Postgraduate School and Program Manager for the Middle East for the Center for Civil-Military Relations.

MER Article

Sadowski, Political Vegetables?

Yahya Sadowski, Political Vegetables? Businessman and Bureaucrat in the Development of Egyptian Agriculture (Brookings, 1991).

Robert Springborg • 6 min read

MER Article

Rolling Back Egypt's Agrarian Reform

The publication in 1988 of the fifth Egyptian agricultural census, conducted mostly in January 1982, provides the most accurate and comprehensive description to date of the changing patterns of landholding and ownership of agricultural assets over the 20 years following President Nasser’s land refor

Robert Springborg • 7 min read

MER Article

The President and the Field Marshal

Husni Mubarak succeeded Anwar al-Sadat in October 1981 at a time of troubled civil-military relations. Sadat’s pursuit of a separate peace with Israel after the war in 1973 raised important questions about the military’s future role, size and sources of weapons. If Egypt was no longer at war, it wou

Robert Springborg • 36 min read

MER Article

Iraq's Agrarian Infitah

Egypt’s infitah is finding an echo in Iraq. The Iraqis are grappling with many of the same problems which caused the Egyptians to adopt such a policy: the shortcomings of public sector manufacturing and of collectivized and semi-collectivized agriculture. As in Egypt, the sudden and dramatic rise in

Robert Springborg • 17 min read