Urban elites and the foundation of municipalities in Alexandria and Istanbul

Abstract

In a rich and stimulating article Professor Gabriel Baer has compared early municipal reform in Alexandria with that in Istanbul.' Both cities were distinguished by a European and Europeanized merchant population familiar with and desirous of Western municipal institutions, services and amenities. While a municipality enjoying a large measure of autonomy was inaugurated in the foreign section of Istanbul in 1858, a similar institution was not introduced in the Egyptian city until 1890. Professor Baer attributes this disparity in municipal development to the difference in 'the response of the diplomatic community in each city to the possible foundation of a municipality. In Alexandria the European consuls perceived municipal reform as a threat to their treaty rights. 'In contrast with other parts of the Ottoman Empire, it was the customary privilege of foreigners in Egypt that no tax whatever could be imposed on them unless it was sanctioned by a specific international convention.'2 Hence the diplomatic community of Alexandria was unwilling to concede the taxing privilege which was a prerequisite to the successful functioning of the new municipality. In addition the consuls feared that since foreigners made up less than one third of the population, 'there would be no guarantee for an adequate representation of the European community.'3 For both these reasons the consular authorities refused to sanction the development of municipal institutions in Alexandria. In Istanbul, according to Professor Baer, the situation was different. Internal taxes could be levied upon Europeans and the area in which municipal reform first took place was inhabited primarily by foreigners. The diplomatic corps could not object to a new internal tax and was presumably less fearful of losing control of a municipality located in a predominantly European area.4 Thus the foreign consuls voiced no objection to the experimental municipality which was inaugurated in the Galata section of Istanbul in July, 1858. In the absence of extensive data dealing with the municipality of Galata, Professor Baer wisely uses the example of municipal reform in Istanbul primarily to set off and contrast his much more extensive data on Alexandria. Recent research in the British and Ottoman Archives and in contemporary journals has produced evidence which demonstrates that the views of municipal reform in Istanbul presented by Professor Baer call for some modification. The difference in municipal development between Alexandria and the Ottoman capital cannot be explained merely by diplomatic opposition in the former and diplomatic acquiescence in the latter. The attitude of the foreign consuls toward municipalities in both cities had much more in common than has hitherto been suspected. In any case both the impetus behind the formation of the experimental municipality and the determina-