ABSTRACT
ONE of the more unfortunate impacts of the twentieth century upon the Arab Middle East is the almost universal desire of the small agricultural countries not only to become industrialized, but, in fact, to establish their own heavy industry. This desire, generally incompatible at the same time with their natural resources and the state of education of their populations, arises largely from an ambition on the part of countries which have only recently acquired full independence to feel that they are no longer dependent on the Great Powers for their industrial products and particularly for their armaments. There is, in addition, a feeling that industrialization is the short-cut to wealth and that only lack of industries and a national economy based upon agriculture keeps the Arab countries poor and backward. Few of the politicians and students who call for the establishment of industries stop to consider whether the necessary attributes exist nor even would they to-day accept the foreign experts who could advise them how best to utilize what few resources they possess. Now, too, the Arab who can read and write resolutely refuses to work on the land. He insists on living in a large city—the capital city of his country if possible—and he seeks above all else a job in a government office. At the same time, by a curious process of reasoning, he believes that as a large and highly paid bureaucracy can only be maintained by a great power, his country must immediately become great, and as the only way this can be achieved is through large-scale industrial development, industrialization must be attained forthwith. Disregarding such uncomfortable considerations as statistics or technical reports, or indeed the realities of his country's situation, the Egyptian effendi will argue that as Egypt grows cotton which is exported in its raw state to England and elsewhere, to be turned into textiles and other goods and then resold at a profit to the people who took the trouble to grow it, Egypt must immediately develop its own textile industry and thus reap a double profit. This argument has convinced not only the student class, but hundreds of thousands of Egyptians and it is now widely believed in the Middle East that industrialization will turn Egypt into a great power overnight and result in an immediate improvement in the standards of living.
