MER Article Book Notes J. S. Birks and C. A. Sinclair, Arab Manpower (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1980). (Author not identified) • 4 min read
MER Article Islam in the News Edward W. Said, Covering Islam (London: Routledge & Regan Paul, 1981). Edward Said’s Covering Islam is one part of his project to analyze aspects of the Western view of Islam and the Middle East. Orientalism, the first and most substantial of these books, traced the evolution of European attitudes Sarah J Graham-Brown • 7 min read
MER Article Egypt's Transition under Nasser Mahmoud Abdel-Fadil, The Political Economy of Nasserism: A Study in Employment and Income Distribution Policies in Urban Egypt, 1952-1972 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980). Ellis Goldberg, Joel Beinin • 13 min read
MER Article Sadat's Moment, Egypt's History David Hirst and Irene Beeson, Sadat (London: Faber and Faber, 1981). Ghali Shoukri, Egypte, la contre-revolution (Paris: Editions Le Sycomore, 1979). These two assessments of the past decade in Egypt pose the question of approach: Can we most conveniently comprehend the period by studying the role Judith Tucker • 6 min read
MER Article Sadat's Alter Ego Osman Ahmed Osman, Egypt’s entrepreneurial tycoon, enjoyed a privileged status that cannot be attributed solely to his role as Sadat’s closest confidant, or even to his kinship by marriage with the president. Many Egyptians came to see him as Sadat’s alter ego, minus the latter’s presidential immuni Mohamed Sid-Ahmed • 6 min read
MER Article Foreign Investment in Egypt According to data gathered by the UN Center on Transnational Corporations, the overwhelming majority of foreign investment in Egypt has been from the United States, with the exception of the banking sector. There has been very little European investment, and virtually no Japanese presence. The UN da James Paul • 2 min read
MER Article Egypt's Military Egypt’s armed forces number well over 300,000 men, the largest in the Arab world or in Africa. Some two thirds are in the army, and most of the rest in the air force. Since 1952, the top political leadership has been drawn from the armed forces. Since 1968, there has been a “demilitarization” of the Joe Stork • 4 min read
MER Article Egypt's Debt Problem Egypt’s external debt—the sums owed to other governments, private multinational banks and multilateral agencies like the World Bank—increased on an average of 28 percent per year under Anwar al-Sadat, compared to 13 percent over the previous ten years. Sadat’s decade also witnessed important shifts Joe Stork • 4 min read
MER Article Sadat's Egypt: A Balance Sheet We now know that the execution-style death of Anwar al-Sadat on the anniversary of the October war crossing was the prelude to neither a coup d’etat nor a popular uprising. Government institutions continued to function within the established legal framework and internal stability reigned. The trial Marie-Christine Aulas • 23 min read
MER Article In the Footsteps of Sadat Israel invaded Lebanon on June 6, 1982, the fifteenth anniversary of the June war of 1967. Then, Egypt was the main Arab combatant state in a war that redrew the geopolitical map of the Middle East. Today, Israel is again redrawing the map, with Palestinian and Lebanese blood. This time Egypt has fi Joe Stork, Judith Tucker • 11 min read
MER Article From the Editors (July/August 1982) Events since early June, and specifically the Reagan administration’s complete support for and identification with Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, accentuates the long-standing need to mobilize popular opposition to US policy in the Middle East. The possibilities for such efforts now exist to a greate The Editors • 3 min read
