Colonial power was explained to Arabs as stemming from English moral character and education.

Evidence

After the translation into Arabic of Self-Help, perhaps the next work to have a similar impact in Egypt and the Arab world was a translation of the book by Edmond Demolins, A quoi tient la supériorité des Anglo-Saxons, a book which understood the political process again in terms of the problem of individual character. The work attempted to explain how Britain had become the greatest and most successful colonial power, supplanting the French in North America, India, and Egypt, and dominating the rest of the world in commerce, industry, and politics. It attributed the success of the Anglo-Saxon to his distinctive moral character, created and transmitted by the unique style of English education. — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 356

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: how a single imported self-help book (Smiles via translation) became the blueprint for an entire colonized nation’s self-understanding — the travel of ‘character’ as national technology.