British treaties banning monopolies destroyed Mehmed Ali’s industrial development program

Evidence

In that Convention the Ottoman Empire’s import and export duties were fixed, the level of internal duties was drastically reduced and, most importantly, monopolies within all the provinces of the Ottoman Empire were banned. Having effectively stripped the Pasha of his army which formed a significant outlet for his locally produced commodities, forced him to withdraw from Syria, Crete and Arabia, and coerced him to abolish internal monopolies, Britain, it is argued, succeeded in ruining Mehmed Ali’s commercial and industrial enterprises and thus aborted one of the most impressive development projects outside of Europe. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1565

Categorization

• QUESTION: The passage flags this as an argument (‘it is argued’) that the next section will scrutinize — worth tracking whether Fahmy endorses or complicates the European-malice narrative.