home/map
subscribe
about us/contact us
israel iraq iran ethiopia eritrea egypt cyprus bahrain algeria afghanistan
Egypt

The most populous Arab country, and home to the headquarters of the Arab League, Egypt is often called the bellwether of trends in Arab politics and culture.

In the 1950s and 1960s, President Gamal Abdel Nasser was a leading exponent of the pan-Arab nationalism that animated many of the region's anti-colonial struggles and its hopes for economic development, as well as the Arab confrontation with Israel. Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956, followed by an unsuccessful British-French-Israeli invasion of the Canal Zone, enhanced Egypt's role in the global Non-Aligned Movement and helped build support for Nasser's "Arab socialism" at home. The popularity of Nasser's policies masked his repression of Islamist and leftist dissidents. In 1967, the Nasser era ended when Egypt (along with Jordan and Syria) suffered a traumatic military defeat by neighboring Israel.

Nasser's successor, Anwar al-Sadat, began reversing "Arab socialism" and, after the 1973 war with Israel, reoriented Egypt’s foreign policy toward Washington. That process culminated in the first Arab peace treaty with Israel, signed by Sadat at Camp David in 1979. These policies were broadly unpopular with Egyptians. In 1981, Sadat was assassinated by a radical Islamist, and the regime imposed emergency law, which persists to this day.

The political clout of Islamists and the religious piety of society have continued to rise under the regime of Husni Mubarak, which has cautiously continued with economic liberalization, but has resisted popular pressure to open up the political system. In 2005, Mubarak announced Egypt's first-ever multi-candidate presidential election. Yet both the presidential race and the ensuing parliamentary elections were marred by voter intimidation and fraud aimed at maintaining the regime's power.

Following Camp David, Egypt has received US aid packages second only to Israel's (and now Iraq's) in size. Yet the country is poor by regional standards, its weak agricultural and industrial growth forcing it to rely heavily on Suez Canal transit fees, tourism and remittances from workers abroad. Egyptian cinema, television and popular music—once dominant in the Arab world—face much greater competition in the age of the satellite dish.


Facts and Figures »