The “open door” policy represented a distinct shift of the Egyptian economy toward closer integration with the Western capitalist world market and the expansion of the role of market forces in structuring and directing the economy.

Sadat’s “open door” economic policy, formally inaugurated in 1974, was one of the focal points for opposition to his regime. The extent to which Nasserism has been employed as a slogan and a symbol and as a basis for criticism of Anwar al-Sadat and his legacy makes an evaluation of the Nasser era not only a fascinating historical question, but an issue of great current political significance. For many, the Sadat regime represented a full-scale counter-revolution against both the Arab nationalist foreign policy and the political economy of the Nasser period. Selective memory and glorification of the era of Gamal Abdel-Nasser has been a key ingredient in mobilizing left opposition to the regime of his successor. Mahmoud Abdel-Fadil, The Political Economy of Nasserism: A Study in Employment and Income Distribution Policies in Urban Egypt, 1952-1972 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980).

Legacy of nasser egypt