Foreign Policy as Nation Making
Turkey and Egypt in the Cold War

A comparison of Turkey's and Egypt's diverging foreign policies during the Cold War in light of their leaderships' nation making projects.

Reem Abou-El-Fadl (Author)

9781108475044, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 December 2018

384 pages
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.1 cm, 0.73 kg

'In this empirically rich and theoretically sophisticated study, Reem Abou-El-Fadl shows that the diametrically opposed positions Egypt and Turkey assumed vis-à-vis the west in the 1950s derived directly from their respective projects of nation making. El-Fadl's book is an essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the link between domestic and international politics in Global South, both in the twentieth and in the twenty-first century.' Resat Kasaba, University of Washington

After the Second World War, Turkey and Egypt were among the most dynamic actors in the Middle East. Their 1950s foreign policies presented a puzzle, however: Turkey's Democrat Party pursued NATO membership and sponsored the pro-Western Baghdad Pact regionally, while Egypt's Free Officers promoted neutralism and pan-Arab alliances. This book asks why: what explains this divergence in a shared historical space? Rethinking foreign policy as an important site for the realisation of nationalist commitments, Abou-El-Fadl finds the answer in the contrasting nation making projects pursued by the two leaderships, each politicised differently through experiences of war, imperialism and underdevelopment. Drawing on untapped Turkish and Arabic sources, and critically engaging with theories of postcolonial nationalism, she emphasises local actors' agency in striving to secure national belonging, sovereignty and progress in the international field. Her analysis sheds light on the contemporary legacies of the decade which cemented Turkey's position in the Western Bloc and Egypt's reputation as Arab leader.

List of figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Empire and nationalism in Turkey and Egypt: 1839–1950
2. The Democrats in opposition: imagining a 'Little America'
3. The Free Officers in opposition: imagining revolution
4. Turkey's accession to NATO, 1950–52: members of the 'free world'
5. Neutralism and pan-Arabism in Egypt, 1952–54: securing sovereignty
6. Turkey and the Baghdad Pact, 1955: 'freeing' the Middle East
7. Egypt from the Baghdad Pact to Czech Arms, 1955: shielding sovereignty
8. Turkey and the Syrian crisis, 1957: linking spheres
9. Egypt from Suez to Syrian Union, 1956–58: sovereign action
Comparative conclusions
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS], Constitution: government & the state [JPHC], Nationalism [JPFN], Comparative politics [JPB], The Cold War [HBTW]