Foreign policy as nation making: Turkey and Egypt in the Cold War - 6

After the Second World War, Turkey and Egypt were among the most dynamic actors in the Middle East.

Their 1950s foreign policies presented a puzzle, however: Turkey's Democrat Party pursued NATO membership and sponsored the pro-Western Baghdad Pact regionally, while Egypt's Free Officers promoted neutralism and pan-Arab alliances.

This book asks why: what explains this divergence in a shared historical space?

Rethinking foreign policy as an important site for the realisation of nationalist commitments, Abou-El-Fadl finds the answer in the contrasting nation making projects pursued by the two leaderships, each politicised differently through experiences of war, imperialism and underdevelopment.