Images of Development Egyptian Engineers in Search of Industry

First published in 1980, _Images of Development_ is as much about modernization theory as about the Egyptian engineering profession. A new epilogue for this 1994 edition presents a new image of development--the engineers now aspiring to transcend and supercede Western modernization theory. Their professional syndicate is one of Egypt's few genuinely representative institutions, and Islamist activists have achieved control over it through free elections. The new image that they project is nothing less than the Islamization of modernity.
The engineers, like their colleagues in other leading professions, previously moved in a political vacuum. Now their assertions of Islamic identity have articulated a determination to master an alien society, corrupted by Egypt's open-door economic policy. The epilogue critically discusses these recent developments and argues that while Islam may inspire a variety of political forms, the engineers exemplify a moderate, democratic, and anti-imperialist movement that works within Egypt's political system and deplores political violence.