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The 1923 Egyptian Constitution: between Drafts, Amendments and Political Struggle
Abstract
The promulgation of a constitution often follows a revolutionary moment or a break with the past and is usually intended to epitomize the national will and provide a judicial and ideological basis for a country. This paper intends to rethink the process by which the Egyptian constitution was promulgated in 1923. Nathan J. Brown argued in "Constitutions in a Nonconstitutional World" (State University of New York Press, New York, 2002, pp. 61-63) that the 1923 Egyptian constitution - along with the other contemporary Arab monarchical constitutions - served a symbolic purpose (expression of national will and of popular sovereignty) and an enabling purpose (organization of state authority without limiting it). However, he claims it did not have a highly ideological value. In fact, its assertion of popular sovereignty – far from having a relapse in the practical sphere or being the expression of an ideological current – was limited to a symbolic value in stressing the independence of Egypt from the British colonial rule after the 1922 unilateral declaration of Independence. Following the methodology provided by the study of Brown, the major argument set forth by this paper is that the original draft of the 1923 Egyptian Constitution had far more ideological meanings and implications than its alternative version that was ultimately octroyée by King Fuad I on 19 April 1923. The final version represented a retreat from the bold stances taken in the first draft. This draft emerged out of twofold forces; on the one hand, the complex relationship between Egypt and Great Britain, and on the other, the pressures exerted by the king in shaping the constitutional text. A semantic comparison between these two documents and the use of the available data on the debates occured during the constitutional discourse (most notably some excerpts of Muhammad Husayn Haykal's "Mudhakkirat fi al-Siyasa al-Misriyya") will show the steps that led to the promulgation of this text and the process by which it was drained of ideological value and sharpness in favour of a major vagueness and neutrality that could meet the expectations of each involved political party. In this sense, the draft of the 1923 Egyptian constitution is considered ideological in its representation of the national aspirations and the main political goals of post-1919 revolutionary Egypt, which were subsequently frustrated by the pressures of the colonial rule and the monarchy.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Egypt
Sub Area
19th-21st Centuries