How Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser Changed World Politics
This week marks 65 years since the Suez Crisis, which catapulted the popularity of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser — and became symbolic of his large and complicated legacy of Arab nationalism, Arab socialism, and anti-imperialism.
Gamal Abdel Nasser at the Suez Canal, 1956. (CBS via Getty Images)
Gamal Abdel Nasser, president of Egypt (1954–70) and champion of Arab nationalism, Arab socialism, and anti-imperialism in the era of global decolonization, was the first indigenous ruler of Egypt since Cleopatra. He believed that he spoke for — and viscerally understood — the interests of its people. Addressing them in unembellished semi-colloquial language, the Egyptian leader urged them, “Irfa‘ ra’sak ya khuya” (“lift up your head my brother”).
The balance among consent, acquiescence, and coercion in the making of Nasser’s project was uncertain and shifted over time. Some — like his successor, Anwar al-Sadat (1970–81), and the renowned liberal litterateur Tawfiq al-Hakim — supported him in power yet denounced him as a dictator in death. Marxists labeled Nasser as a fascist in the early 1950s but acclaimed him in the 1960s and even after he had died.
An Officers’ Republic
Egypt’s political transformation from an aristocratic constitutional monarchy to an “officers’ republic” is Nasser’s most enduring legacy today. This regime-form persists despite the realignment of Egypt’s domestic and foreign policies, and shifts in the balance of power among the elements of its ruling bloc — the army, the internal-security apparatus, the state bourgeoisie, and, since the 1970s, private sector crony capitalists.
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