SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This study focuses on statesmanship in Egypt in the early thirties. Following another of the periodic clashes between King Fuad and the Wafd, Sidqi was summoned to lead an emergency government. This time the constitutional crisis was complicated by the effects of a World Depression and attended by Egypt's partial recovery of its fiscal autonomy. Effective government was urgently needed then. Sidqi's background qualified him for the task which he assumed with architectonic vision and determination. Rising above his immediate difficulties, Sidqi transformed the crisis into an opportunity to create institutions which would buttress Egypt's independence. Convinced that excesses threatened that independence, and that imbalance underlay the compound crisis, he reinstated a dynamic equilibrium which accomodated growth to stability. His immediate priority was to adapt parliamentary life to the Egyptian situation and develop the latter to make it more conducive to the former. Thus, he re-organised the Administration, amended the Constitution and instituted a government which combined effectiveness with representativeness. At the same time he implemented a protectionist policy to stimulate and diversify the economy. Perceiving the inter-dependence between structural and institutional change, he launched an energetic campaign to cultivate compatible public attitudes and values. Preaching by example, he inspired his followers and subordinates to follow suit. Throughout, he coped with the principal political forces on the scene. With force and guile he contained his opponents and handled the British High Commissioner and the King dextrously. This enabled him to retain power long enough to institute his basic reforms. Although he succeeded in his immediate objectives, the same background which qualified him for success combined with objective factors to undermine its consolidation. The implications of his Regime, however, outlasted its duration.