Description
Rule of Experts examines these questions through a series of interrelated essays focused on Egypt in the twentieth century. These explore the way in which malaria, sugar cane, war, and nationalism interacted to produce the techno-politics of the brand new Egyptian state; the sorts of debt, discipline, and violence that founded the institution of private property; the methods of measurement, circulation, and exchange that produced the novel idea of a national “economy,” yet made its accurate representation unimaginable; the stereotypes and plagiarisms that created the scholarly image of the Egyptian peasant; and the interaction of social logics, horticultural imperatives, powers of desire, and political forces that turned programs of economic reform in unanticipated directions.
Mitchell is a widely known political theorist and probably the most innovative writers at the Middle East. He provides a wealthy examination of the sorts of reason, power, and expertise that characterize recent politics. Together, these intellectually provocative essays will challenge a broad spectrum of readers to think harder, more critically, and more politically about history, power, and theory.