| Abstract: | In 1959-1960 the Egyptian government introduced cooperative societies among the Bedouin of the Western Desert as part of its programme to sedentarize them. Between 1959-1962 only 3 percent of the population joined. By 1967, however, it was said that 62 percent of the population had become members of the cooperatives. In 1965 the government had established 39 cooperative societies, but the Bedouin themselves had set up 160 societies of their own. The result has been to strengthen lineage loyalties and traditional leadership, which is inconsistent with the basic principles of the cooperative movement. The main concern of the present paper is to explain the reasons for the dramatic popularity of the cooperative movement and its effect on Bedouin society. Notes, tab. |
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