Review: The Cash Nexus
| Date | 01 September 2001 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200105600320 |
| Published date | 01 September 2001 |
| Author | Francine McKenzie |
| Subject Matter | Review |
Reviews
implementation
of
any socioeconomic
development
strategy
and
hence
constitutes
the
key
to
understanding
'the
political
economy
of
a
"developing
country"
like
Egypt'
(x).
Counter
to
Beattie's
previous
work,
which
was
built
on
substantive
theoretical
foundations,
this
book
applies
a
loosely
generalized
framework
of
analysis.
It
is
based
on
a
variety
of
published
works
in
English
and
Arabic
supplemented
by
numerous
interviews,
not
only
with
members
of
Egypt's
political
dlite
and
intelligentsia
but
also
with
American
officials.
While the
author
relies
on
recently
declassified
CIA
documents
to
provide
insightful
details
on
the
regime's secretive
diplomatic
moves
with
the
United
States
between
1971
and
1973,
he does
not
shed
new
light
on
the
con-
tentious
issue
repeatedly
raised
by
Sadat's
biographers regarding
his
connections
to
the
CIA.
Egypt
During
the
Sadat
Years
offers
an
informa-
tive,
rich,
and
balanced
description
of
the
Sadat
era
for
general
readers
and
specialists
alike,
although
a
page
of
acronyms
might
have
made
some
of
its
details
more
accessible.
Asya
EI-Meehy/PhD
candidate,
McGill
University
THE
CASH
NEXUS
Money
and
Power
in
the Modern World
1700-2000
Niall
Ferguson
New
York:
Basic
Books,
2001,
xix,
55
2
pp,
US$44.95,
ISBN
0-465-
02325-8
N
iall
Ferguson,
Oxford
professor
of
political
and
financial
history,
regular
commentator
on
current
affairs,
frequent
contributor
to
the
print
media,
and
one
of
the
few
historians
ever
to
be
profiled
in
The
New
Yorker,
has
published
his
fifth
book
in
six
years:
The
Cash
Nexus:
Money
and
Power
in
the
Modern
World,
1700-2000.
In
Ferguson's
previous writings,
he
tackled
large
subjects
(the
Rothschilds
and
the
European
economy),
addressed
fundamental
questions
(how
can
counterfactuals
inform
our
understanding
of
the
past?),
and
came
up
with
provocative
conclusions
(Britain
should not
have
gone
to
war
in
1914).
The
Cash
Nexusis
similarly
broad,
basic,
and
bold.
Ferguson
examines
the
connection
between
politics
and
economics
over
300
years
and
most
parts
of
the
world
and
concludes
that
political
events
and
institutions,
especially
wars,
have
had
a
decisive
impact
on
eco-
nomic
developments.
He
rejects
the
arguments
of
economic
determin-
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Summer2001
545
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