To What Extent were Gamal Abdel Nassers Economic Policies Successful - Research Proposal Example

To what extent were Gamal Abdel Nasser’s economic policies successful? Loulwa Al Khawaja The British International School, Cairo History Internal Assessment Candidate Number: 000528 0006 Contents Contents 2 To what Extent were Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Economic Policies were Successful? 3 A.Plan of investigation 3 B.Summary of Evidence 3 C.Evaluation of Sources 5 D.Analysis 6 E.Conclusion 7 F.Bibliography 9 To what Extent were Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Economic Policies were Successful? A. Plan of investigation This paper attempts to assess the extent to which Nasser’s economic policies were successful in improving the lives of Egyptians. The discussion is centred mainly on the conditions that were prevalent before Nasser came to power and the effects that his economic reforms had on the population as well as the country. The economic reforms instituted by Nasser captured my attention mainly because it allowed me to see a different representation of this leader in a world where he is often depicted negatively. Therefore, I will look at the evidence provided concerning the reforms that Nasser made to the Egyptian economy and during the process will attempt to determine the motivations behind some of his actions so that a better picture of whether these reforms were successful can be developed. An analysis of the evidence in addition to a close reading of some other texts will help to bring about a verdict that will be used to decide if Nasser’s reforms were successful and whether they had long term or short term impacts to the country. B. Summary of Evidence Before the institution of economic reforms in Egypt by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the political neglect of the Egyptians was so great that their problems were not even considered in official government policy, and this ensured that the area in which they lived had become an unattractive place for economic activities to take place. Moreover, Nasser recognised that Egypt was a nation that had huge potential for developing into one of the prominent countries in the Arab world, but this had to be accompanied by political goodwill in order to be made into a reality. The Nasser government aimed at improving the economy through encouraging well-educated individuals to work within the public sector. The reforms made by this government were based on the belief that the government needed to be in control of all the major economic activities in Egypt. Reid’s (2002) has discussed pan Arabism and the position the country occupied in the region. The ideology on Pan-Arabism espouses the unification of the countries of North Africa and those of West Asia from the Arabian Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, referred to as the Arab World. The idea is closely related to Arab nationalism that states that the Arab world is a single country. The evidence from the readings shows that the economic reforms that Nasser in Egypt helped the Egyptian economy to have some significant development, which provided the necessary incentives for individuals to be brought out of poverty (Tell 2012). It is essential to note that the reforms propagated by Nasser, while successful in the short-term, were not sustainable. The reforms created a situation where in a decade and a half; Egypt was on the brink of economic collapse as swift urbanization led to significant reduction of arable land while there was an increase in rural-urban migration, which reduced the labour needed in the agricultural sector of the country (Osman 2010). While this may have been the case, the evidence shows that among the most fundamental policies of the Nasser government was nationalisation and this was accelerated, especially after a new constitution was put in place making Egypt a one-party state. Furthermore, the results of the Nasser government economic policies were neither good nor bad. One of the economic policies introduced by Nasser was the 1952 land reform. Before the land reform was established, the country has a total of 2.5m hectares of land that could be cultivated. One third of the land was owned by about 94% of the population who did not practice farming. The second third of the land belonged to 150 landowners with each having between 2 and 20 hectares. The final third of the land belonged to 11, 000 large estate holders. These large estate holders defined 0.4% of landowners. In addition, many of them exerted control over 20% of the agricultural land. The 1952 land reform introduced limitations to the amount of land a single person could own. According to the reform, a person could only own 84 hectares and be able to transfer 42 hectares to children below the adult age. The purpose of the land reform was to promote equality in land ownership (Aoude 1994). It is unfortunate that the reforms did not register the expected objectives because of illegal land ownership. An additional policy that Nasser established was the nationalization policy that had different aspects. Specifically, in 1962 to 1962, Nasser nationalized different corporations on Egypt. The purpose of nationalizing corporations was to ensure that wealth generated by the corporations served to improve the living standards of the Egyptians. In 1962, Nasser announced that the Arab socialist lines would apply in Egypt. Nasser was against capitalism, which only accumulated wealth to the rich (Fahmy 2012). He believed in a socialist system that would redistribute wealth to all the citizens of Egyptian citizens. Evidently, the nationalization of corporations served to improve the living standards to many Egyptians and ensured a proper distribution of wealth (Ryan 2001). In 1964, Nasser also introduced the land reclamation policy. Land reclamation involved the establishment of agricultural industries in land that had been wasted. The process required proper planning, the development of irrigation schemes, and other technical activities in an effort to ensure that the land could become productive. Small peasants benefited from the land reclamation process. In addition, land reclamation increased the percentage of land that could be cultivated. These economic policies registered remarkable growth in the economy. For example, Egypt registered a 9% growth annually in over 10 years. In addition, the creation of the public sector through nationalization resulted to wealth redistribution of over 75% of the gross domestic product from the rich to small owners (Osman 2010). In addition, Nasser ensured that the manufacturing industry made a significant contribution to the economy. Specifically, the industry contributed to about 35% to the economy in the 1970s. C. Evaluation of Sources In order to get access to reliable sources that can effectively address the subject of study, the EBSCO collection of databases served as a reliable site. One of the journal articles identified was titled "From national bourgeois development to Infitah: Egypt 1952-1992" authored by Ibrahim G. Aoude, who is an associate professor of ethnic studies in the University of Hawaii, Manoa. The article is relevant because it discusses Egypt under the Nasser regime and the reforms that resulted. The article is well referenced making it a valid source. In addition, the author claims with relevant evidence. In addition, Tell’s article titled "State formation and underdevelopment in the Arab world" also proves to be a reliable source. Tell is affiliated with the Centre for Arab and Middle East Studies (CAMES), American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon and his article focuses on the causes of underdevelopment in the Arab world. It is relevant because Egypt is categorized among the Arab countries. Tell explores different sources of evidence from numerous references in order to support his claims. These two articles give us a clear picture of how the reforms were introduced and how they affected the people. "From national bourgeois development to Infitah: Egypt 1952-1992" is written to discuss Egypt under Nasser which is very important in this paper. Tell, on the other hand, outlines the position Egypt occupies in the Arab world which is also very important in this discussion. D. Analysis The above six sources have been invaluable in shedding light to this topic. The fact that they have been conducted by most people with vast knowledge of Egypt as a country and the regimes that have seen most changes in the economy and social structure of the country boost their credibility in researching on this topic. All of them discuss the period 1961-1964 which is the period when Egypt adopted some of its most important policies to date. Some on the policies sought to address the limitations the country was facing in advancing economically most of which involved governance and others climate. The aridity of Egypt, for example, was also seen as a hindrance to its development and led to some individuals in this country seeking opportunities elsewhere. To recover from this, the Nasser government invested heavily in the development of new sources of water for the population to use, and this was done through the construction of the Aswan High Dam. This water could also be used for irrigation, which would enable the state to put as much of its land under cultivation as possible, and this will ensure that the country was food sufficient. Availability of water is essential in reclaiming land. In general, land may be productive but then lack enough water for the survival of food crops. Land reclamation was, therefore, very effective in ensure ting that the land become productive. However, despite Nasser’s reforms, it should be noted that most of the economic reforms that he took were done merely as experiments and they were likely to not to have had a long-term impact.1 One of the ways through which Egypt could have been made more productive so that the standards of living could also improve would have been by studying other countries which had much success in turning their arid regions into productive zones. The best example of such a country is the United States, whose ingenious irrigation systems had been able to convert the arid areas within it into productive farmlands. One of the most fundamental policies of the Nasser government was nationalized, and this was accelerated, especially after a new constitution was put in place making Egypt a one-party state. According to Osman, through the nationalisation programme, the government could finally control the costs of various goods and services for the Egyptian people.2 The creation of state-owned industries for privatization ensured that there was a marked improvement in the performance of these industries. E. Conclusion Most of the economic problems in Egypt during the Nasser era were within the human means to solve as long as there had been a bit of dedication and support from the not only its government, but also from other Arab states that had a stake in a stable Egypt. Since among the main causes of poverty in this country was its geography, even more steps that the construction of the Aswan Dam should have been taken to ensure that the various geographical factors were overcome to make the state more productive. However, most of the people with the power to make a difference, especially the leading political figures, were either unwilling or unable to do so because they did not want to disturb the status quo. It is this attitude that President Nasser should have struggled to fight so as to be able to help the Egyptian people who were affected by poverty. However, it is worth mentioning that the economic policies introduced by Nasser registered remarkable economic growth and introduced favourable social changes. The social changes were particularly effective in adopting socialism which Nasser had developed under his Nasserism ideology, a form of Arab socialism. The main idea was to raise the living standards of every citizen and doing away with capitalism. F. Bibliography Aoude, I.G. 1994, "From national bourgeois development to Infitah: Egypt 1952-1992", Arab Studies Quarterly, 16(1), pp. 1. Fahmy, H., 2012. "An Initial Perspective on "The Winter of Discontent": The Root Causes of the Egyptian Revolution", Social Research, 79(2), pp. 349-376,551. Osman, T., 2010. Egypt on the Brink. Boston: Yale University Press. Reid, D. M., 2002. Nassers Egypt, Arab nationalism, and the United Arab Republic. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 34(4), 757-758. Ryan, C.R. 2001, "Political strategies and regime survival in Egypt", Journal of Third World Studies, 18(2), pp. 25-46. Tell, T., 2014, "State formation and underdevelopment in the Arab world", The Lancet, 383(9915), pp. 480-2. Read More