In the late 1960s and 1970s a confluence of anticolonial politics and publishing revitalized the Cairo–Beirut link, itself emblematic of the turn of the century Arab nahda. This connection saw a reverse flow, which advantaged Beirut by way of Cairo’s amassed expertise in the publishing industry. Emerging Arab nationalist Beirut-based publishers relied on expertise in the production of illustrated books and periodicals developed in Cairo. Chapter 4 examines the subsequent Cairo–Beirut circuit of graphic design modernism, while probing the political relations and cultures of the visual carried through the influx of this expertise. The analysis brings to light a visual culture that embodies a modernist double claim of aesthetic authenticity, articulating Arab socialist politics with processes of artistic decolonization in and through printed mass media. The analysis is focused on Helmi el-Touni’s move from Cairo to Beirut in 1974 and his settling there for a decade, tracing the aesthetic and political relations articulated in his graphic design practice, while analysing in particular two sustained consultancies he undertook with Beirut-based Arab nationalist institutions: Beirut’s Arabic Book Fair and the Arab Institute for Research and Publishing.

The second chapter revisits Gamal Abdel Nasser and the 1952 revolution. Focusing on the emergence of Nasserism, I argue that it represents the first and last hegemonic project in modern Egypt. Nasserism can be understood as a collective will that was produced in a particular historical moment – one that was formed against the dangers of imperialism and the hopes of a postcolonial project. Nasserism was also, however, an articulation of an elitist state-led project of decolonization that centred the military, the state, and capitalism, leaving powerful legacies that would haunt Egypt’s future. Exploring these contradictions, the chapter charts a history of Nasserism through Fanon and Gramsci, thinking through anticolonial nationalism, state-led capitalism, third wordlism, the colonial international, and hegemony. I argue that the creation and then decline of Nasserism as a hegemonic project is central to understanding contemporary Egyptian politics. The chapter looks specifically at the anticolonial movements predating 1952; the creation of the Free Officers and new historical bloc; the creation of consent in civil society; and some of the paradigmatic events of anticolonialism in Egypt, such as the nationalisation of the Suez Canal.

Chapter two presents an overview of the evolution of Egypt’s political economy under Nasser and Sadat. Central to this history are the struggles over property rights. Under Nasser, nationalist attempts to modernize the economy eventually gave way to an experiment in Arab socialism within the geopolitical context of the Cold War. During this period, an ‘authoritarian bargain’ was established in which broadly redistributive social and economic policies sought to provide welfare for, and redistribute land to, the popular classes in return for their political subordination. In the 1970s, Sadat began to dismantle Arab socialism and establish a more liberal political economy through his infitah policy. In doing so, Sadat presided over the beginning of the disintegration of the authoritarian bargain. To contain social conflict, Sadat emboldened the right-wing forces of political Islam in the hope that they would combat the left and provide an Islamic alternative to the social protection offered by the Nasserists.