ABSTRACT
The urban experience of Alexandria can be seen as a case study in the new modes of interaction between state and society and in the expression of new forms of political and popular consciousness. The people of Alexandria, however, viewed the arrival of the 'Ingileez' somewhat differently. The struggle issued in yet another British invasion of Alexandria, in 1882, and a colonial occupation that was to last some forty years. Indigenous aspirations to self-rule and a more representative form of government were thus thwarted by the installation of a regime thoroughly subservient to European interests, that is, a colonial regime. In countries that were formally annexed to the empires of European states, the administration of cities was the direct responsibility of the colonial power. The glaring defects in urban government derived from the informal and collective nature of European colonization in Egypt before 1882.
