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Al-Ahram Weekly 23 - 29 September 1999 Issue No. 448 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 23 - 29 September 1999 Issue No. 448
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Comment Focus Special Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Policies to fit the world
By Wahid Abdel-Meguid *Foreign policy comprises more than the sustaining of relationships with other nations, and in the field of political science foreign policy is recognised as an area of study distinct from international relations.
In analysing the success or failure of any given foreign policy, the volume or type of relations maintained with other states is not used as a criterion. Rather, foreign policy must ultimately be judged by its vision of the world and by its ability to discern opportunities to be seized and challenges to be addressed.
This is the criteria that must be employed in evaluating not just Egypt's foreign policy in the eighties and nineties but its future prospects. And within this context, it becomes clear that Egypt's foreign policy is now better geared to serve national interests than at any time since the fifties.
The radicalism which characterised Egypt's foreign policy in the fifties and sixties, and the reductionism that prevailed at the end of the seventies, were the products of ideologies that possessed, at best, a skewed vision of the world. Egypt's foreign policy was influenced by both an ultra-nationalist trend and an authoritarian, autocratic leadership seeking to wield power domestically and on the Arab level.
During the fifties and sixties, Egyptians felt themselves to be victims of imperialism and colonialism, and foreign policy was conceived as a reaction to Western schemes aimed at our suppression and subjugation. We went in constant fear of war with the West, perceived as our perennial enemy. This attitude was most clearly manifested in political statements expressed in an over the top rhetoric comprising fiery nationalist phrases.
And during the period in question Egypt's domestic policy was in essence an extension of its foreign policy, however untenable this state of affairs now appears.
By the end of the sixties Egypt had come under the direct control of the Soviet Union. While foreign policy-makers had constantly promised to liberate the land from foreign domination, following Israel's occupation of a third of Egyptian territory, Egypt was drawn into the sphere of Soviet influence and became largely dependent on Moscow.
This was the heavy price paid for a distorted foreign policy that had a limited vision of the future and which remained shackled to the past. For at precisely the moment imperialism was in its death throes Egypt's foreign policy was geared exclusively towards fighting the corpse.
Correcting the perception of the West as the ruthless enemy, something that had pervaded Egypt's foreign policy for decades, must be considered one of the major accomplishments of Mubarak's rule. And over the last decade Egypt has succeeded in formulating a foreign policy attuned to its perception of reality, on the grounds that its national interests are best served by integration into the world order, rather than by isolationism or the pursuit of conflict.
Egyptian foreign policy during the seventies shifted radically from its sixties pathway. Making peace with Israel, with the sponsorship of the US, was an unmeditated reaction to regional distortions and domestic problems. This shift in foreign policy was nurtured by the assumption that changes in personal relations were sufficient grounds to support a change in foreign policy. Thus President Sadat's frequent references to Kissinger and Carter as "friends" justified the change in policy.
Failing to perceive that imperialism was dying was as erroneous as the belief that interests do not conflict. But while conflicts of interest and disparities in viewpoints vis-à-vis certain issues exist, they should not necessarily breed enmity.
It is with this conviction that Egypt is steering its foreign policy to play a positive role in global politics, optimising the gains it can make from its relations with world powers, most notably with the US.
It is clear to Egypt that the US is not an imperialist power. It is clear, too, that Egypt is not a satellite state. The relationship between the two states is based on shared interests. In its foreign policy Egypt seeks to consolidate its interests while remaining aware that conflicts of interest regarding certain matters exist and must be addressed.
When President Mubarak was asked about relations with the US at a meeting held with university students last summer, he answered that they were "excellent" and that "cooperation with the US encompassed all areas".
Recognising US efforts, he affirmed that "we are not an ungrateful people" and implicitly denounced allegations that relations with the US do not serve our interests.
Those who object to the strengthening of relations with the US, and with the West in general, are out of step with the times, remnants of the old guard whose views were responsible for numerous disasters in the sixties. Yet the advocates of such outmoded views continue, we note, to exert an admittedly limited amount of influence within certain institutions of state.
Advocates of theories which prevailed in the sixties may have ceased to use the fiery rhetoric of old, yet they continue to nurture doubts about the direction of international economic arrangements. Mechanisms created by the World Trade Organisation and the GATT are targets of their suspicion and doubt.
From time to time senior officials allude to such global economic arrangements as being aimed at compromising our interests and servicing only those of the large industrial countries. Such allusions are grounded in the old dualistic view of economies as being either developed or dependent.
President Mubarak's fourth term of office is likely to see such out-dated suspicions disappear once and for all. For we live today in a world characterised by partnership rather than hegemony. Developed countries cannot maintain their growth unless other states experience some measure of growth themselves. Thus, by their very nature, our times are inherently opposed to the imperialism of the past, when colonial powers built wealth at the expense of their colonies.
A new world has emerged and under Mubarak Egypt is assuming its rightful position among nations. It is a position that will be consolidated in the coming years.
* The writer is the editor-in-chief of the annual Arab Strategic Report issued by the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.
