Corrective revolution (Egypt)

Corrective movement
Date15 May 1971
LocationEgypt
ParticipantsAnwar Sadat
Outcome
  • Anwar Sadat's consolidation of power
  • Radical changes in Egypt's politics, economy, and foreign policy

The corrective revolution (officially launched as the "corrective movement")[1] was a reform program (officially just a change in policy) launched on 15 May 1971 by President Anwar Sadat.[1][2] It involved purging Nasserist members of the government and security forces, often considered pro-Soviet and left-wing, and drumming up popular support by presenting the takeover as a continuation of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, while at the same time radically changing track on issues of foreign policy, economy, and ideology. This includes a large shift in Egyptian diplomacy, building ties to the United States and Israel, while breaking from the USSR and, after signing the Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty, Egypt's subsequent suspension from the Arab League.

Sadat's corrective revolution also included the imprisonment of other political forces in Egypt, including leftists and officials still loyal to Nasserism. Sadat used the corrective revolution as a way to 'exorcise Nasser's ghost' from Egyptian politics, and to establish his domestic legitimacy.[3]

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Anwar Sadat

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  1. ^ a b Ansari, Hamied (January 1986). Egypt: The Stalled Society. SUNY Press. ISBN 9780887061837.
  2. ^ Bar-Joseph, Uri (2016). The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel. New York: HarperCollins. pp. 80, 86–88. ISBN 9780062420138.
  3. ^ Tsourapas, Gerasimos (2019). The Politics of Migration in Modern Egypt - Strategies for Regime Survival in Autocracies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 93–108. doi:10.1017/9781108630313. ISBN 978-1-108-63031-3. S2CID 158281381.