This collection of original essays elucidates the structures and functions of five centuries of Egyptian administration, within the state and outside its framework, as well as the relationships between the administration, the state, and the people.

By examining various bodies - including courts, the taxation system, guilds, and the state bureaucracy itselfit traces the evolution of Egyptian bureaucracy from the traditional Ottoman system through the more centralized structures of Muhammad Ali to the emergence of the modern state system.

The collection creates a much-needed framework for the study of the historical development of modern Egyptian administration, effacing in the process some of the artificial boundaries that have separated the Ottoman from the modern period. By looking at the evolution of Egyptian administration in a social context, the essays emphasize a continuity that permits a new look at Egyptian history. The volume includes essays by prominent historians, many of whom ordinarily publish in French or Arabic.