Arab nationalism: The case of Gamal Abdel Nasser (original) (raw)
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Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 2020
The decade of 1950-60 was unique in terms of the establishment of a supranational Arab union, known as the United Arab Republic. However, this union was ill born due to certain frictions between Arab states in the Middle East. There were divergences between the visions of Arab Nationalism for each state and this caused a troubling process for this supranational initiative. This study considers these frictions as the main reasons behind why the UAR was an unsuccessful attempt and further why the Arab Nationalism dissolved afterwards. The divergence between two competing visions of Arab Nationalism is symbolized through the competition between Iraqi prime minister Abd al-Karim Qasim and Egyptian president Gamal Nasser. The domestic, regional and global circumstances for these two countries and their leaders are analyzed in order to illustrate how these frictions became a reality and divided the Arab stance.
ARAB NATIONALISM(S): RISE AND DECLINE OF AN IDEOLOGY
It is difficult and incorrect to approach the complex issue of the definition of Arab nationalism without providing, at least in broad terms, an examination of how nationalism was born and has developed in Europe, because there is no doubt that, in the Arab world, nationalist ideas and movements are connected to the ideology, the results and the example of European nationalism. To start from the comparison with the European model is important to consider if this model has successfully been applied to the Arab context or if nationalism has been an exogenous ideology forcibly and artificially introduced in Arab context. When speaking about Arab nationalism, at least three phenomena, only partially distinct from one another, must be identified: Arabism, Pan-Arabism and Nationalisms on a local basis. The first is Arabism ('uruba, being Arab) is the sense of belonging to the same world, in a single context from Morocco to Iraq, that emerged in Egypt and Near East in the last decades of the XIX century. From this cultural awareness of Arab identity, the Pan-Arabism (qawmiyya 'arabiyya) developed in the interwars period, but especially after the Second World War. Finally, with the acquired national Arab independences, Nationalism emerged on a local basis, and took the name of waṭaniyya. The debate, which we try to give in synthesis, has never closed and all the major questions are open: if an Arab nation (and therefore an Arab nationalism) has ever existed; if we can talk about a Pan-Arab nationalism once local based nationalisms emerged; which are the ideological principles of Arab Nationalism that are not uncritically assimilated from outside; finally, how and why the nationalistic ideologies have suffered an heavy crisis in front of the impressive rise of contemporary radical Islamism after the Seventies. Today the figure of the global jihadist, not tied to this or that national cause but fighting anywhere you have to fight a ǧihād in the way of God, is the antithesis of the militant of nationalistic movements, for the absolute disregard for any cause that can be defined national. The goal is the creation of an Islamic State, no matter how utopian this project is, not based on the concept of nation but on that of umma. It's the phase of the "après panarabisme": the myth of cohesion from the Gulf to the Atlantic no longer enchants Arab people and Arab States, and the era of Nasser and the Ba'athist dream has finally ended.
Reflectionson Arab Nationalism
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1996
The transliteration apparatus has been kept to the minimum. The only diacritical mark in the transliteration are 'ayns. The 'ayn is indicated by [' ]. Arabic names as those familiar to the reader in their Anglicized versions are rendered as such and not in transliteration (e. g. Nasser). Names of Arab writers who publish in English are spelt the way they appear in their own publications and therefore discrepancies are available as far as these are concerned. The Arabic article ''all' usually only appears when reference is first made to the subject in the whole of the research.
The present dissertation discusses Pan-Arab nationalism from its inception until its downfall. It sets out to probe the Western stance towards, and impact on, Arab nationalism as represented by Djamel Nasser, Houari Boumediene, and Saddam Hussein. It examines the relationship between the immense geo-strategic importance of the MENA region and Western interventionist policies in the region to hinder the rise of any Arab political movement. Additionally, this dissertation explores the historical circumstances that gave rise to Pan-Arab nationalism. It also brings into perspective a comparison between the three presidents on the one hand, and their contribution to Pan-Arabism as well as their embrace of the doctrine to face Western intervention on the other. Moreover, the study draws attention to the importance of the Cold War in the evolution and triumph of Pan-Arab nationalism as a political movement. It also explores the different factors surrounding the downfall of Pan-Arabism and the reasons behind the impediment to its arguable revival.