The ‘crush’ of ideologies: The United States, the Arab world, and Cold War modernisation

Abstract

This article re-examines America's approach to cold war modernisation in US–Arab relations during the era of Nasser. It shows how US and Arab modernisers pursued different aims on the basis of similar assumptions about the nature of societal change. By analysing Arabic political literature and describing US–Arab conflicts over development in Iraq and Egypt, it illustrates how the cold war raised expectations regarding total modernising systems and escalated an earlier rivalry among Arab anti-colonial movements. This contribution fills a gap between studies of cold war development that emphasise conflict and those that explain modernisation theory in an exclusively American context.

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The ‘crush’ of ideologies: The United States, the Arab world, and Cold War modernisation

Notes

Nathan J. Citino is an associate professor of history at Colorado State University. His book, From Arab Nationalism to OPEC: Eisenhower, King Sa'ud, and the Making of U.S.–Saudi Relations (Indiana University Press), was recently published in a second edition.

 [1] al-‘Azm, Mudhakkirat, 2: 420–39, 3: 13–27.

 [2] al-‘Azm, Mudhakkirat, 1: 399; 2: 433; 3: 379–80.

 [3] Westad, Global Cold War, 4.

 [4] See Byrne, ‘Our Own Special Brand of Socialism’; Speich, ‘The Kenyan Style of “African Socialism”’; and Trentin, ‘Modernization as State Building’.

 [5] Latham, Modernization as Ideology, 4. See also Gilman, Mandarins of the Future; and Ekbladh, The Great American Mission.

 [6] Yaqub, Containing Arab Nationalism, 22.

 [7] See Humphreys, Between Memory and Desire, 60–82.

 [8] Cooper, Colonialism in Question, 123.

 [9] See Pollard, Nurturing the Nation, 15–47; and Husayn, The Days.

[10] See Beinin and Lockman, Workers on the Nile; and Thompson, Colonial Citizens.

[11] Bakdash, Al-‘Arab wa al-Harb al-Ahliyya fi Isbaniya.

[12] al-Khuli, Al-Islam: La shuyu‘iya wa la ra'smaliya, 14.

[13] Zaki, Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun, 52. See also Mitchell, The Society of the Muslim Brothers, 242.

[14] Lerner, The Passing of Traditional Society, 55; Zaki, Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun, 69.

[15] See Bakdash, Al-Hizb al-Shuyu'i, 24.

[16] Rostow, The Stages of Economic Growth; Zaki, Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun, 7–8, 72.

[17] See al-Ghazzali, Ayyam min Hayati, 40.

[18] Shepard, Sayyid Qutb and Islamic Activism, xxxix, xlv.

[19] See von Drehle, ‘A Lesson in Hate’; and al-Khalidi, Amrika min al-dakhil bi-minzar Sayyid Qutb, 39.

[20] al-Khalidi, Amrika min al-dakhil bi-minzar Sayyid Qutb, 158.

[21] Qutb, Ma'arakat, 54. See also 8, 21, 36, 119–20.

[22] Qutb, Ma'arakat, 54. See also ibid, 65.

[23] Qutb, Ma'arakat, 54. See also ibid, 26, 34, 54. See also Shepard, Sayyid Qutb and Islamic Activism, xlv.

[24] Shepard, Sayyid Qutb and Islamic Activism, 180.

[25] Quoted in al-Khalidi, Amrika min al-dakhil bi-minzar Sayyid Qutb, 66ff., 153. See also, 77, 161, 166–67, 173–74, 185.

[26] Quoted in al-Khalidi, Amrika min al-dakhil bi-minzar Sayyid Qutb, 153, 155.

[27] Qutb, Ma‘rakat, 111; Quoted in al-Khalidi, Amrika min al-dakhil bi-minzar Sayyid Qutb, 156.

[28] Quoted in Shepard, Sayyid Qutb and Islamic Activism, 59–60.

[29] Quoted in al-Khalidi, Amrika min al-dakhil bi-minzar Sayyid Qutb, 182.

[30] Qutb, Ma‘rakat al-Islam wa al-ra'smaliyah, 33; and al-Khalidi, Amrika min al-dakhil bi-minzar Sayyid Qutb, 178.

[31] American University in Cairo, Egypt, Rare Books and Special Collections Library, Hassan Fathy Archive [HFA], ‘Agrarian Reform and Rural Housing in Iraq’, binder II, number 30, pp. 7–8, 3 November 1958.

[32] Fathy, Architecture for the Poor, 27.

[33] HFA box: ‘11 Dox’, ‘Dwelling in Developing Countries’, handwritten draft, 22 June 1963.

[34] HFA, binder III, number 69, ‘Dwelling in Developing Countries’, typed version, 22 June 1963.

[35] al-Husri, Ma hiya al-qawmiyya?, 92–4.

[36] al-Husri, Difa‘ ‘an al-‘uruba, 164.

[37] al-Bazzaz, Al-dawlah al-muwahhida, 68–9, 86–8.

[38] al-Rimawi, Al-Mantiq al-thawri, 263.

[39] al-Rimawi, Al-Mantiq al-thawri, 275, 279.

[40] al-Bazzaz, Hadhahi qawmiyatuna, 285.

[41] Defense Ministry, Muhakamat al-mahkamat, 5: 224–9.

[42] Defense Ministry, Muhakamat al-mahkamat, 1: 3.

[43] Defense Ministry, Muhakamat al-mahkamat, 5: 319.

[44] Al-Bazzaz, Al-dawlah al-muwahhida, 138–41.

[45] Al-Bazzaz, Al-dawlah al-muwahhida, 17–18.

[46] National Archives and Records Administration [NARA], College Park, MD, CIA Records Search Tool [CREST], ‘Middle East Notes’, 20 October 1959.

[47] NARA, Record Group [RG] 59, Central Files, 787.00/1-1660, dispatch 612, US Embassy in Baghdad to Department of State, 16 January 1960.

[48] US Department of State, FRUS, 1961–1962, 17: 365.

[49] NARA, RG 59, 787.001/4-1162, dispatch 659, US Embassy in Baghdad (Lakeland) to Department of State, 11 April 1962; and 787.001/5-3162, dispatch 777, US Embassy in Baghdad (Akins) to Department of State, 31 May 1962.

[50] See Ismael, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Iraq, 106–13.

[51] John F. Kennedy Library [JFKL], Boston, MA, National Security Files, Countries [NSF], Box 117, Iraq, 1/63–2/63, Komer to Kennedy, 8 February 1963.

[52] JFKL, NSF, Box 117, Iraq 1/63-2/63, Rusk to Embassy in Baghdad, 21 February 1963.

[53] JFKL, NSF, Box 117A, Iraq 3/63-5/63, telegram 784, US Embassy in Beirut (Meyer) to Department of State, 4 March 1963.

[54] Declassified Documents Reference System [DDRS], CK3100339060, memo by Kinsolving, 15 October 1965.

[55] Farouk-Sluglett and Sluglett, Iraq since 1958, 104.

[56] See Wolfe-Hunnicutt, ‘Nationalizing IPC’.

[57] Farouk-Sluglett and Sluglett, Iraq since 1958, 118.

[58] Quoted in ibid., 144.

[59] Quoted in Ismael, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Iraq, 165.

[60] Tripp, A History of Iraq, 208–9.

[61] JFKL, NSF, Box 168A, UAR General 7/62–8/62, Brubeck to Bundy, attachment, 11 July 1962.

[62] Nasser, Majmu‘at khutab, 265.

[63] See NARA, RG 59, Policy Planning Council (1961–69), Subject Files, 1963–73 Lot 70 D 199, 72 D 124, 73 D 363, Box 28, W.R. Polk-Chron. Jan.–June 1963, Polk to Amer and Polk to Sadat, both 9 February 1963; and JFKL, NSF, Box 148A, Palestine Refugees General 12/62–11/63, Komer to Bundy, 9 February 1963.

[64] NARA, RG 59, Policy Planning Council (1961–69), Subject Files, 1963–73, Lot 70 D 199, 72 D 124, 73 D 363, Box 28, W.R. Polk Chron. Jan.–June 1963, Memorandum of conversation by Polk, 21 February 1963, and memorandum by Polk, n.d.

[65] NARA, RG 59, Lot 70 D 199, 72 D 124, 73 D 363, Policy Planning Council (1961–69), Subject Files, 1963–73, Box 12, Egypt, Tab A, Talbot to Harriman, 4 May 1964. See also NARA, RG 59, Lot 70 D 199, 72 D 124, 73 D 363, Policy Planning Council (1961–69), Subject Files, 1963–73, Box 28, W.R. Polk – Chron July–December 1964, ‘Notes for the “New Man” theme’, 21 July 1964.

[66] See Meijer, The Quest for Modernity.

[67] Polk, ‘The Nature of Modernization’, 104.

[68] NARA, RG 59, Policy Planning Council Subject Files, 1954–62, Box 237, W.R. Polk – Chron Jan.–May 1962, Polk to Komer, 10 January 1962.

[69] NARA, RG 59, Policy Planning Council Subject Files, 1954–62, Box 222, Near and Middle East 1962, Polk to Rostow, ‘Shaking the Kaleidoscope in the Middle East’, 29 October 1962.

[70] NARA, RG 59, Policy Planning Council Subject Files, 1954–62, Box 237, W.R. Polk – Chron. July–Dec. 1962, Polk to Rostow, 9 November 1962.

[71] NARA, RG 59, Policy Planning Council Subject Files, 1954–62, Box 215, Egypt (UAR), Polk to Rostow, 17 February 1962.

[72] NARA, RG 59, Policy Planning Council Subject Files, 1954–62, Box 215, Egypt (UAR), Memorandum of conversation, 28 November 1962.

[73] NARA, RG 59, Policy Planning Council (1961–69), Subject Files, 1963–73, Lot 70 D 199, 72 D 124, 73 D 363, Box 12, Egypt, Paper by Polk, ‘United States–United Arab Republic Relations’, 16 January 1963 [p. 17].

[74] NARA, RG 59, Policy Planning Council (1961–69), Subject Files, 1963–73, Lot 70 D 199, 72 D 124, 73 D 363, Box 42, Near and Middle East, Polk to Rostow, 25 May 1964.

[75] Qutb, Milestones, 5.

[76] See Zollner, ‘Prison Talk.’

[77] Al-Ahram, 30 August 1965, pp. 1, 8, 11. See also Kepel, Muslim Extremism in Egypt, 31–35.

[78] See DDRS, CK3100338931, attachment 2, Rusk to Johnson, 23 September 1965.

[79] Heikal, The Sphinx and the Commissar, 121. See also, 140–47.

[80] Nasser, The Charter, 10.

[81] See Ismael and El-Sa‘id, The Communist Movement in Egypt, 121–6.

[82] Al-Ghazzali, Ayyam min Hayati, 11–14; and al-Ahram, 7 September 1965, p. 1.

[83] See DDRS, CK3100190617, Battle to State, 14 October 1965.

[84] See Kepel, Muslim Extremism in Egypt, 33; and DDRS, CK3100176091, Handley to Hand, 22 July 1965.

[85] NARA, RG 84, Lot 69 F 142, Records of the Foreign Service Posts of the Department of State, American Embassy, Cairo, Egypt, Subject Files, 1964–65, Box 1, POL 3 Organizations and Alignments Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan), US Embassy in Cairo (Bullen) to Department of State, 15 December 1965.

[86] Supposedly among the plot's targets was the popular singer, Umm Kulthum. See al-Ahram, 8 September 1965, p. 1.

[87] Johnson, A Mosque in Munich, 104–78.

[88] Primakov, Russia and the Arabs, 91.

[89] NARA, RG 59, NEA Bureau, Office of the Country Director for the United Arab Republic (NEA/UAR) Records Relating to United Arab Republic Affairs, 1961–66, Box 2, POL 7 Visits. Meetings. UAR 1965, Polk to Battle, 16 November 1965.

[90] Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Library, Special Collections Research Center, Papers of the Adlai Stevenson Institute for International Affairs [SIP], Box 26, Folder 13, Memo of conversation by Polk, 20 November 1968.

[91] Polk, The United States and the Arab World, 153.

[92] Heikel [Haykal], Nahnu... wa Amrika, 27, 29.

[93] Polk to Battle, 16 November 1965, cited above.

[94] See HFA, Folder: ‘Adlai Stevenson Institute, 1970–73’, Polk to Fathy, 3 May 1971; and SIP, Box 15, Folder 7, Polk to Fathy, 27 June 1972. See also Citino, ‘Suburbia and Modernization’.

[95] Burns, Economic Aid and American Policy toward Egypt, 176. See Chamberlin, ‘A World Restored’.