The New Mamlukes Egyptian Society and Modern Feudalism by Amira El-Azhari Sonbol (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2000. 292 pages.)

Abstract

Amira El-Azhari Sonbol has written an outstanding socio-politico-eco­
nomic analysis of the Egyptian government and society over the last three
centuries. This book brilliantly debunks the oriental despot model of
analysis that has been imposed on scholarly studies of Muslim societies.
She achieves this with the aid of a "study of popular discourse." She
emphasizes the need to relearn what culture is all about by examining how
Egyptians see themselves and their own relationships. She finds that
Egyptian society has not been static, waiting to be transformed from the
outside, but dynamic, following its own cultural evolution. Along the way,
she notes the importance of distinguishing Islamic revival from radicalism
and terrorism.
Sonbol argues that eighteenth-century Egypt has been misunderstood,
forced into the absolutist mold that more properly characterizes today's
Egypt. Eighteenth-century Egypt reflected "social maneuverability" and
the "rule of law." In the 19th and 20th centuries the Egyptian state sought,
with partial success, to establish itself as the "active creator" of law and
order. A new form of mercantilism emerged that went beyond the mere control
of imports and exports to the manipulation of all aspects of production
and exchange to the benefit of the elites. In the Nasser era, elements of
socialism and nationalism were employed in the advancement of what was
actually a form of state capitalism, in which the elites sought to extract rent
from their hold on power. It was a feudal compact, in which the state's
"right" to political allegiance was "reciprocated by the state's 'duty' to
guarantee the security of the nation and provide its people with" the necessities
of life.
Sonbol critiques the translation of khassa as elite and 'ammah as general
pub I ic. The khassa are the people of power, wealth, and distinction, only
one part of which retains hegemony at any given time. The khassa are too
diverse (ruling elites, the military, and the business classes) to be considered
an aristocracy. From time to time the ulema, the intellectuals and the pro­
fessionals have been their allies in legitimizing their power. The so-called
modernization of the Arab world has only been a strengthening of ...