MUNUC XXIX Cabinet of Egypt Background Guide
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THE CABINET OF EGYPT, 1954 MUNUC XXIX Cabinet Briefing LETTER FROM THE CHAIR Greetings Delegates! Welcome to the first cabinet meeting of our new government. In addition to preparing to usher in a new age of prosperity in Egypt, I am a fourth year at the University of Chicago, alternatively known as Hannah Brodheim. Originally from New York City, I am studying economics and computer science. I am also a USG for our college conference, ChoMUN. I have previously competed with the UChicago competitive Model UN team. I also help run Splash! Chicago, a group which organizes events where UChicago students teach their absurd passions to interested high school students. Egypt has not had an easy run of it lately. Outdated governance systems, and the lack of investment in the country under the British has left Egypt economically and politically in the dust. Finally, a new age is dawning, one where more youthful and more optimistic leadership has taken power. Your goals are not short term, and you do not intend to let Egypt evolve slowly. Each of you has your personal agenda and grudges; what solution is reached by the committee to each challenge ahead will determine the trajectory of Egypt for years to come. We will begin in 1954, before the cabinet has done anything but be formed. The following background guide is to help direct your research; do not limit yourself to the information contained within. Success in committee will require an understanding of the challenges Nasser’s Cabinet faces, and how the committee and your own resources may be harnessed to overcome them. In this committee, you must be resourceful when reacting to crises and evaluating the changing situation. Similar to many crisis committees, you will take control of ministries with parallel powers, how relevant your ministry is depends on your ability to see the connections between the diverse challenges you will be faced with. How your influence waxes and wanes is entirely under your control, so interact with all other members as though you held the same initial influence. As you learn about your historical counterpart, always think about what abilities they possessed, what resources they had access to, and how you can utilize that during committee. If you have any questions or concerns about this committee, the preparation process, or MUNUC in general, I encourage you to contact me. I look forward to meeting all of you come February. Sincerely, Hannah Brodheim President Gamal Abdel Nasser Chair, The Cabinet of Egypt, 1954 [email protected] 2 THE CABINET OF EGYPT, 1954 MUNUC XXIX LETTER FROM THE CRISIS DIRECTOR Dear Delegates, My name is Alex Nye, and I am a fourth year studying Law, Letters & Society and International Relations. I am originally from Long Grove, Illinois, in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Though I never was a delegate as MUNUC, I had a great time last year as an assistant chair on the Bureau of Investigation and the year before as the crisis director for the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. I’m looking forward to having a great time again this year as you all face the challenges of dealing with questions of war, peace, economics, ideology, and Middle East history. I am a confessed Model UN “addict,” both in high school and college, so I can’t wait so see how the unique combination of Cold War tension, asymmetrical conflict, and the problems of the idea of Arab unity plays out over the course of the weekend. If you have any questions or concerns about this committee, the preparation process, or MUNUC in general, I encourage you to contact me. I look forward to meeting all of you come February. Sincerely, Alex Nye Crisis Director, The Cabinet of Egypt, 1954 [email protected] 3 THE CABINET OF EGYPT, 1954 MUNUC XXIX HISTORY OF THE PROBLEM Ottoman Egypt In 1517 Egypt, at the time ruled by the Malmuk Empire, was taken over by the Ottoman Empire. A remnant of an early government of Egypt, the Mamluks were the military caste deeply rooted in early Egyptian thought. Even the conquering by the Ottomans, however, was insufficient to truly break the Mamluks’ power. The Mamluks continued to exert outsized influence on Egypt and prevented the country from being truly absorbed into the empire. Struggles within the army in Egypt were common throughout this time. There were nearly continual mutinies and uprisings, as well as radical new religions taking form and being crushed. These acts made Egypt an easy military target, and in 1798 French General Napoleon Bonaparte set his sights on conquering Egypt. According to the French, Napoleon undertook his campaign to secure French interests in the region. Egypt was weak at that time due to inner power struggles that had divided the country and continuing attempts to be free of the rule of the Ottomans that had left much of the country damaged. The French easily took Alexandria and swiftly gained control of the Nile Delta and Cairo, although the Mamluks maintained control of Upper Egypt. Great Britain, which was becoming involved in Middle Eastern and African affairs through its colonial program at the time, and the Ottoman Empire saw the French invasion as a point of unity, the destruction of which was in the interest of both their empires. The joint Anglo-Ottoman forces destroyed most of the naval strength the French had brought to Egypt, and within three years the French troops completely withdrew from Egypt. Additionally, the power of the Mamluks was greatly reduced, having been tested by the combined pressure of the Ottomans and the French for so long. More significantly, Egypt’s importance to the Western world had been realized, putting the country in the global limelight. Rise of Muhammad Ali The evacuation of French forces left the Ottomans struggling to retake power from the much weakened Mamluks. Muhammad Ali, an Ottoman general, was part of this force and used his growing popularity in Egypt to quickly become the governor of Egypt quickly. By the death of Sultan Selim III of Egypt, Ali was well positioned to rule Egypt as he saw fit. Once the last of the Mamluk troops had been conquered, Ali began to implement his vision to make Egypt into a European style state. Among his main goals for the country were to build a strong military, centralize 4 THE CABINET OF EGYPT, 1954 MUNUC XXIX power, and create an Egyptian empire. That said, Egypt’s position was fragile. Ali desired autonomy from the Ottoman Empire, but more than that he aimed to secure his family’s position in Egypt for the generations to come. In the early 1800s, he concentrated on conducting military campaigns on the Ottoman Empire’s behalf. Most notably, Ali sent soldiers, under the control of his son, to participate in the Ottoman-Saudi war from 1881 to 1818. The campaigns were successful, but not without cost for Egypt. The army grew disaffected, and the whole region needed new economic opportunities to become more prosperous and end its economic stagnation. Just to the west of Egypt lay Libya and south of that Sudan; together they represented valuable caravan trade and the possibility of revitalizing the army with captives. Beginning first with a strike west into Libya and then moving south into Sudan, Ali was able to take over Sudan without endangering Egyptian security. The new land would come to be treated as a single Egyptian entity, all of which came under Ali’s control. Gaining this land significantly boosted Egyptian power. Not only did it represent a new source of revenue, but that revenue was utilized to modernize the Egyptian army. Ali began to train an army of Egyptians conscripted and kidnapped into the armed services. Using officers recruited from outside the country and creating schools to train them in, Ali was eventually able to replace his mercenary army with a more reliable, native one. In addition to military schools, Ali brought in other western styles of education, expanding training for doctors and engineers to improve Egyptian society’s health and infrastructure. The weakening Ottoman Empire was also a target of Ali’s ambitions. Ali pushed his armies onward, conquering Syria and moving west. The death of the Sultan Mahmud of the Ottoman Empire further weakened the overextended forces, opening a path for Ali to Anatolia, the heart of the Ottoman Empire. This possibility caused great concern in the United Kingdom, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire itself. These states joined together to write the Convention for the Pacification of the Levant in the summer of 1840. The Convention demanded that the Ottoman Empire be left intact and that Egypt return the conquered territory in Syria to the Ottoman Empire. This treaty, inspired by the fear that a collapse of the Ottoman Empire would destabilize Europe, did grant Ali one significant concession: His descendants would have permanent control over Egypt as a part of the Ottoman Empire. Facing the threat from Europe as well as the Ottoman Empire, Ali chose the humiliation of returning the Syrian territories in order to protect his family’s ability to continue to rule Egypt. Economic Changes Ali did not merely impact the military and geographical structure of Egypt; he affected the entirety of the economic system. Ali chose to nationalize all the land in Egypt to create a new, more effective source of revenue for the government. This act was not, however, accomplished directly. Instead, Ali raised extremely high 5 THE CABINET OF EGYPT, 1954 MUNUC XXIX taxes on land, which then caused the land to revert to the government when the land owners could not pay.