ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Dr. Rivlins treatment of Mohammed ’Ali and suggests that a balanced view of his economic policy and achievements is still lacking. It deals with all aspects of Muhammad ’Ali’s economic and administrative policy, including not only agricultural and fiscal policy, but also the organization of trade, industry, and manpower. Muhammad ’Ali identified himself with the Egyptian state; he was ambitious to make it economically and politically powerful. He needed revenue, partly to maintain his own position, but largely for the economic and military expenditures he thought necessary to achieve his ambitions for Egypt. From the fact that Muhammad ’Ali’s trade policy ‘increased the country’s dependence upon European markets and made it susceptible to fluctuations in the European economy’, some might decide that trade should be restricted because it leads to interdependence, whereas others would point to the economic advantages of a widening market.
