Confronting Fascism in Egypt Dictatorship versus Democracy in the 1930s [Hardcover]

Confronting Fascism in Egyptoffers a new reading of the political and intellectual culture of Egypt during the interwar era. Though scholarship has commonly emphasized Arab political and military support of Axis powers, this work reveals that the shapers of Egyptian public opinion were largely unreceptive to fascism, openly rejecting totalitarian ideas and practices, Nazi racism, and Italy's and Germany's expansionist and imperialist agendas. The majority (although not all) of Egyptian voices supported liberal democracy against the fascist challenge, and most Egyptians sought to improve and reform, rather than to replace and destroy, the existing constitutional and parliamentary system.

The authors place Egyptian public discourse in the broader context of the complex public sphere within which debate unfoldedin Egypt's large and vibrant network of daily newspapers, as well as the weekly or monthly opinion journalsemphasizing the open, diverse, and pluralistic nature of the interwar political and cultural arena. In examining Muslim views of fascism at the moment when classical fascism was at its peak, this enlightening book seriously challenges the recent assumption of an inherent Muslim predisposition toward authoritarianism, totalitarianism, and Islamo-Fascism.

Israel Gershoni is Professor of History at Tel Aviv University. James Jankowski is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Colorado. Gershoni and Jankowski are frequent collaborators, and have coauthoredRethinking Nationalism in the Arab Middle East(1997) andCommemorating the Nation(2004), among other books.Confronting Fascism in Egyptoffers an in-depth examination of the response of Egyptian civil society to the global rivalry between liberal democracy and totalitarian fascism as their confrontation accelerated over the course of the 1930s. This impressive work is refreshing in its scope and yet attentive to the rich details of the Egyptian experience. lÄ