European Control and Egypt's Traditional Elites

This study examines the 1879 movement by groups of Egypt's elites who controlled the country's wealth and government before European penetration. It analyses the meaning of economic nationalism through a discussion of the elite's motivations and agenda.

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Dr. EzzelArab places economics and finances at the heart of his study. Unlike previous scholars, he stresses the economic and financial aspects of the proposalsoffered by Egyptian elite groups to save their country from European financial control and to strengthen their political parties at the expense of the Khedive, his followers, and the European groups who were trying to use the Khedive as an agent of European influence. No scholar has analyzed the proposals put forward by the Egyptian National Assembly in April 1879 more carefully.