What is offered below is an attempt to engage with Mitchell's argument by questioning, not his characterization of what preceded the introduction of modern "reforms," but by elaborating on his analysis of how they did in fact work in the Egyptian context. For Mitchell, in his attempt to uncover the logic of these modern institutions of power and their physical representations, is not interested in showing how they actually worked in the specific case of Egypt. … This book seeks to understand the nature of the discrepancy between the plan and its execution, between the law and its implementation that Mitchell takes to be due only to the very nature of modern institutions of power and their representations. By looking at the specific Egyptian context where these modern devices were applied and basing itself on an imposing and impressive institution of power, this book offers alternative explanations of the nature of this gap that separated model from reality.

SEED: The discrepancy between institutional design and actual implementation is a rich theme for articles on modernization, state capacity, or bureaucratic failure in postcolonial contexts. Builds on: "Muhammad Ali's army forged the modern Egyptian nation through novel control practices."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 41