What explains the lack of normalized relations between Egypt and Iran? Despite mutual potential benefits Egypt and Iran could have gained from normalized bilateral relations over the past several decades, a range of factors prevented them from doing so, including personality politics, domestic political and economic considerations, as well as regional and external alliances and competing visions of regional order. Accordingly, the trajectory of modern Egyptian policy toward Iran has been non-linear. Realist and constructivist schools of International Relations theory, on their own, cannot adequately explain how Egypt's foreign policy toward Iran varied from times of hostility, friendship, stagnation, and openness under Presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat, Hosni Mubarak, and Muhammad Morsi. As such, neoclassical realism - with its emphasis on the interaction between geopolitical structural conditions and the roles of leadership and domestic politics in shaping a state's foreign policy - offers the best framework for analyzing Egypt's foreign policy behavior toward Iran.

Islamic resurgent movements have striven to accomplish an Islamic way of life off their own version of an Islamic state, struggling against the socio-economic and political objectives of governments. While autocratic governments have used religion to ensure their legitimacy, Islamic resurgence has professed to have as its objective the establishment of an Islamic dispensation. Resurgent movements aspire towards a greater unity of religion and politics, domains that cannot be separated. Religion provides them with a framework for the transformation. However, factors responsible for the anger and alienation of the Islamic resurgence are still disputed. Their modus operandi is often frowned upon, overshadowing their driving forces. Therefore the purpose of this study is to determine the true motivations, objectives and modus operandi of Islamic resurgence in Egypt. The role of Islam in their motivation, aim and modus operandi is scrutinised together with other crucial factors which need to be investigated. While ideology determines the broad political and socio-economic paradigm, religion serves as the guiding principle for their implementation. The application of religious principles, in turn, is determined by personalities and circumstances. While Islam has a set of generally agreed upon specifications, interpretations have different deviations in every historical context. As a matter of fact, the unique factors pertaining to time and place are experienced during each political period in the history of Egypt influenced resurgence. This study contends that the motivational factors for the development of Islamic resurgent movements during the 20th and 21st century may be said to be a response to Westernisation brought about by external sources, government and civil society or the West itself. On the other hand, animosity towards a foreign culture seems to be more a reaction against the manner in which the foreign culture has been imposed and not to be directed in the first place against those that represent the foreign culture. Thus, it is not so much aimed against the Western world as against the manner in which the political and socio-economic conditions in the Muslim world have been allowed to develop, albeit with Western help. Even though some argue that the objectives of resurgent movements of an Islamic dispensation are idealistic, not attainable and a threat to the West, this manner of arguing misses the point. The thesis maintains that, in the absence of an inclusive and acceptable political and socio-economic system, an external system has been adopted, and this has added to alienation. As a result both the government and the system have been rejected. Positively stated, the objectives of Islamic resurgent movements seem to have been to achieve an inclusive political system within the frame of reference of the Islamic religion. The aim was not so much to achieve an Islamic state, as a dispensation in which the stipulations of Islam were central aspects. For resurgent movements, Islam had to be more than tokenism providing legitimacy to leaders. In achieving their objectives a variety of modi operandi have been applied, ranging from moderate measures to calling for total-Jihad. A multifaceted society has also determined the differences in modus operandi and objectives of the Islamic resurgent movements. The approaches of Islamic resurgent movements are diverse and they do not have a common agenda or modus operandi. To analyse the objectives of Islamic resurgent movements according to their violent manifestations only is to misunderstand their arguments. These movements are usually seeking a system inclusive of Islam simply because it is their way of life, their culture. Radical and moderate reactions have been determined by convictions based on different diagnoses of the problems at hand as well as different diagnoses of how to deal with the problems within the appropriate spheres of politics, religion and socio-economics. Because Islam provides unity to man, resurgent movements will always seek their objectives of getting rid of political and socio-economic exclusion and replacing it with a system inclusive of all. However, Muslims will have to find a way of achieving their aims and objectives in a modern world. In this process, the outside world can facilitate, but not dictate. Unless future governmental changes in Egypt provide a political and socially integrated society and have promised goods and services delivered, resurgence will continue to appear in various formats. At the same time, generating a workable system would have to take place in relative isolation without coercion from the West for political gain or political dominance. / Prof. J.F.J. van Rensburg

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The main objective of this thesis is to estimate and evaluate the impact of the Egyptian petroleum sector on the Egyptian economy during the period 1962-1982 within both micro and macro-economic approaches. On the basis of the empirical findings of the study, the oil sector comes out fairly well as a good leading sector in the Egyptian economy. The study has also revealed that the domestic consumption of oil has dramatically increased at a high rate of growth as well as the oil production/reserves ratio is relatively high in Egypt comparing to a country which has a huge amount of oil reserves. Considering the above three facts, Egypt can face the following problems: 1) The uncertainty of oil discovery and 2) The gains in the terms of trade are limited due to the decrease or the slight increase in oil prices. In this case, it can be anticipated not only the impact of the oil sector to fall but also Egypt can be expected to be a net oil importer in the very near future. Therefore, the study has investigated both oil demand and oil supply sides in Egypt in order to determine the main factors which affect them and which in turn affect the role of the oil sector in the economy in an attempt to reach some policy recommendations which might help policy makers in planning and controlling petroleum activities in Egypt in such a way that their contributions can be maximized. On the basis of such investigation, it has been concluded that reconsidering the domestic pricing policy of oil in Egypt is very crucial in order to decrease and rationalize domestic oil consumption in particular the analysis of the subsidy system of petroleum products in Egypt has revealed that the system has not achieved its main goals. Examining the main determinants of oil supply in Egypt, it seems very important to intensify investment in oil exploration activities in order to secure and increase oil reserves and which in turn lead to secure oil supply. Also, it seems reasonable that the relatively optimal policy of oil production in a country at a stage of rebuilding and developing her economy such as Egypt is that policy which produces on a level sufficient to be exchanged for a financial resource and which in turn could be invested in capital formation and thus developing the basic productive sectors. Such policy is thus taking account of future generations by directing oil revenues to future welfare through investment channels.