National Role Perception and Egypt's Foreign Policy in Sadat and Mubarak Eras

Egypt’s foreign policy as an Arab, Islamic, African country and an influential actor in the Middle East has always been an important issue and its constitutive factors, changes, and continuities in the course of time have attracted students of foreign policy and the Middle East. This article explores the ways in which Sadat’s and Mubarak’s foreign policies were formed on the basis of their perceptions of Egypt’s national role. Within the analytical framework of Role Theory and by relying on process-tracing method in which causal sequence of events are examined, the article shows how the two presidents’ foreign policy differences can be explained by their different role perceptions. It is argued that while Sadat followed a Pharaonicist national role, Mubarak’s perception of national role was that of the guardian of Arabs’ solidarit.