ABSTRACT
Egypt is basically a stable country and during thirty-two years there have been only three men at the helm. Although a leader is not a country, where there are no fixed political institutions it is difficult to avoid making the identification. Nasser and Sadat gave very different complexions to Egyptian society, starting from the basis of different conceptions and personalities. Nasser was suspicious, mistrustful and a conspirator by nature, unwilling to share power-and he left an Egypt shaped in his image. He was, however, an overwhelming personality, a visionary, destined from youth to lead his country into a new stage of development. Floundering Arab leaders around him forced him into a wider role. A Syrian statesman claimed of him that he had
no right to choose, but was fated to lead the way, to receive all the shafts of the enemy, to be happy or unhappy depending on the state of the nation…He who leads a whole historical process must inevitably take up this stand.
