Studies of nationalism in modern Egypt have usually focused on the political struggle against Great Britain and the British Occupation of Egypt. The topics which bulk largest in such works are the changing relationship between occupier and occupied, the history of the various political movements striving for Egyptian independence, and the successive phases of the struggle for national liberation.

This work considers Egyptian nationalism from a somewhat different perspective. Although taking account of the external political conflict with imperialism, it emphasizes the social, the intellectual, and the internal political dimensions of nationalism. Its central concern is the creation and dissemination of new Egyptian national images and frameworks of identity. In part the history of Egyptian nationalism involves the contest for political authority and the competition among rival political forces; but it also involves the larger historical process of Egyptian collective self-definition.

In what follows, we address the evolution of Egyptian national identity on both the conceptual/intellectual and the operative/political levels. In terms of the former, we attempt to isolate and reconstruct the answers Egyptians gave to such fundamental questions concerning their national identity as “Who are we?” “What do we want?” “What are we to become?” In terms of the latter, we endeavor to determine the practical answers given by Egyptians to more concrete questions like “Where does Egypt fit in the world?” “Which policies best serve the interests of the Egyptian nation?”