The Non-United States: The Arab Nationalism Movement

Nationalism played a huge role in this event due to the Middle Eastern countries longing for independence for their own nation.

Arab Nationalism is an ideology which was prominent in the 19th century, as Arab nations began to gain independence from colonial powers. The foundations of Arab Nationalism are based on the notions of political, cultural, religious and historical unity amongst Arab nations. One of the fundamental goals of Arab Nationalism was to see the end of western powers in the Arab region, and the removal of those Arab governments who were seen too dependent on western power. The rise of Arab nationalism came with the weakening and defeating of the Ottoman Empire but declined after the defeat of the Arab armies in the 1967 six-day war. This essay will look at the reasons as to why Arab Nationalism failed making references to the aims of Arab Nationalism.

During the years 1900-2001 a number of significant interventions occurred which affected the growth and nature of Arab nationalism. Several key pressures considerably influenced a change in the nature of nationalism; including, economic levers, agreements and military presenses in the Middle East. Arab nationalism arose out of the fear of the possibility and later the certainty of European or American dominance. The emerging ideology believed all Arabs to be united by both a shared language and history. Foreign intervention in the Middle East long predated the First World War, dating back to during the

While the aftermath of World War II is often referred to as one of the primary creators of deep rooted turmoil in the Middle East region, the effects of the Cold War and the United States often over-zealous battle against communism is just as much a contributor if not more. The Arab world and the Middle East region were clearly going through quite an extraordinary period throughout World War II and its conclusion, primarily with the creation of most of the states we recognize today and struggling with the continuation of colonialism. These factors set the stage for the emergence of strong nationalist sentiments and Pan-Arab movements across the Middle East. Unfortunately, and much to the detriment of the region, the leaders of these young

On the eve of the Cold War, a majority of Arab nations were struggling to rid themselves of the presence of western powers within their nations. As a result they found themselves trying to redefine themselves outside of the context of colonization and trying to become modern on their own terms, and not on the terms of their colonizers. However in order to do so, the Arab bourgeoisie, did not look within their own nations for solutions to rebuild and improve their nations, but instead borrowed and modified ideas that came from the west. These new emerging ideas were met with opposition because they stemmed from western ideas, those followed them were criticized for following and emulating a western trend. Although Arab existentialism did

According to the reading “ Thinking Citizenship in a Revolutionary Arab Word” the author Maya Mikdashi, argues that issues related to citizenship and nationalism in the Arab Middle East require extensive processes of critical analysis and intervention. In this respect, Mikdashi referred to the opinion of several authors (e.g. Wedeen, L, Mamdani, M. and Brubacker, R.) who advocated the concept of global, universal or world citizenship. She further added that the Arab uprisings, in which the brutal authoritarian regimes across the region have been fiercely challenged force political scholars to think critically of the pros and cons of nationalism and citizenship in the region.

Rami G. Khouri discusses his opinion on the lingering issues of the Middle East in a talk held on October 27th, at 7:00pm in the Koffler building. The room resembled more of an auditorium packed with millennials, senior citizens and age groups in between, all with their full attention on the speaker. Throughout his talk, Khouri explained how the last century has been exceptionally problematic for the Arabians due to zero political development, the Arab Israeli conflict, and the Arabian revolution. Khouri’s main argument is that there is an entirely new situation at hand due to Turkey, Iran, Israel, and Saudi Arabia currently driving the actual developments of the Middle East and the Superpowers unhelpful ways.

Centuries of cultural development, the establishment of Islam as the dominant religion in the region, conquest and expansion across the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa all played pivotal roles in the creation of a Middle Eastern identity, but what truly defined nation states as we know them today were individuals: political and religious leaders who acted through or even overthrew institutions to further their dreams for their people and the region. Gamal Abdel Nasser, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and Ruhollah Khomeini all guided their nations towards what they believed was a promising future, with Egypt pursuing a socialist, Pan-Arab state, Turkey a secular, modern state, and Iran a theocracy respectively. These leaders did not follow the same path to seizing power, nor did they mimic one another in regards to the state’s relationship with foreigners, faith, economics, or ethno-nationalism. What did bind them was an undeniable impact on their respective countries and the creation of identities for said states in a post-colonial world. Despite the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives in ensuing conflicts that grew out of the establishment of these states, or the inevitable tensions that were exacerbated by these leaders, these three men were instrumental to dragging Egypt, Turkey, and Iran out of social, economic and political strife and propelling them to greater roles both in the Middle East and on a global stage. All three paved the way for their nations to ascend to

Arab unity, Lewis demonstrates, is now an oxymoron. Today no single Muslim polity exists, and this is part of the problem, or identity crisis, which the Islamic world faces. For many centuries there was one Islamic community united by one ruler. Even when that community splintered into various states, there was still a discernable unified state. No longer however. It is this divided and unstructured body that now is seeking to find its way in the modern world. Resentment, disorientation and despair have been part of the reaction and the rise of terrorism is one of the more pronounced responses to this loss of unity and hegemony. The loss of a coherent center in Islam, and its fall as a global power, is at the heart of the current crisis in Islam. Of course Islam is more than just a religion, it is a culture and civilization as well. For millennia it enjoyed the status as a world power. But the past century has witnessed a great reversal of fortune for this empire, and the responses have been

The turmoil in the Levant region is constantly viewed as an ancient conflict that has been going on for centuries, fueled by religious hatred. In reality the current conflict has less to do with religion than the conflicting claims of two groups to the same region. These claims were made in the early 20th century, anticipating the fall of the Ottoman Empire, with the backing of British promises of an independent state for both sides. These claims stoked nationalism on both sides. The regional arabs began to see themselves as Palestinian before arabs and the new jewish zionist movement called for a jewish state. From the end of the first world war to 1947 both groups claimed the land as their own. That was until the Holocaust.

Pan-Arabism Nationalism, closely connected to Arab nationalism, ascertains the idea that all Arabs should come together and unite under one state. Many Arabs at this time began to migrate to Palestine, they felt dominated by both the Empire and by the British however, “intellectually, they inspired resistance against both forms of domination,” and hoped to gain independence. This idea of a Pan-Arab state seemed incredibly appealing to some Arabs with Palestine as a home. However, Some of the Zionist also found Palestine appealing. The Zionist felt Pan-Nationalism toward Israel which corresponds a connection of a particular area of land to a group of people. This idea of Pan-Nationalism was important to many Jews as “the centrality of the

Israel has become a complex issue for discussion from the moment of its’ establishment after World War II. It is discussed on different levels, starting from conversations over lunch and ending with discussion among heads of states. The right of Jewish population for this land, as well as the militaristic politics of Israel is constantly on the global agenda. At the same time, many people tend to ignore the state of other side in this conflict – the Arab population that remained on the Israeli territory after the formation of a new state. This paper studies the place of Arab minorities in Israel, with a special focus on the rights and position of Arab population during the first stages of the establishment of Israeli state.

of either the capitalist block, led by USA or the Socialist block led by the former USSR. In that global division of Africa and Arab Countries, both Ethiopia and the Gulf Arab Countries was strong adherent with the capitalist block. Both enjoyed American and West European political patronage and protection. Thus imperial Ethiopia and the Gulf Arab Countries were partners against the spread of socialist and radical political ideas in this part of the world (Hoynes 1993).

During the 19th century the Middle East found themselves with a problem of establishing an identity or nationalism. Through defensive developmentalism the Middle East had sought to counter the imperialistic approach of the West, yet still begin to modernize their land. The world was developing rapidly and the Middle East wanted to ensure that they did not fall behind. However, the approach backfired and the Middle East found themselves struggling to establish their own modern identity and falling victim to becoming more like the Europeans. Many new ideas and new movements developed through Middle Easterners, some wanted to modernize and began to fuse European and Arabic tradition, while others wanted to re-establish Islamic tradition. Most detrimental to these new ideas and movements was the emergence of the modern public sphere. The modern public sphere flowed into all aspects of these new movements and had many effects on the Middle East. In essence, this idea of modernization would combine with the imperialism of European thoughts, as well as components of the industrial revolution and would lay the foundation for the fusing of the Europeans with Islamic traditions.

Islamic countries, also known as Muslim countries, refer to those countries that regard Islam as the state religion and the majority of residents in it believe in Islam. 47 countries and districts and two regions in total (Western Sahara and Kosovo) are considered to be Islamic countries all over the world. Racism is a "modern" concept and ideology. Middle East has the construction of the nation-state and its political modernization process started with important ideological factors, and a strong impact on the Islamic political tradition. While Islam has a deep root in its political modernization history in the Middle East, the way to Islamic fundamentalism in the district faced a serious challenge. Middle East conflicts during the construction of the nation-state for both deep historical and cultural reasons, but also has many complex practical reasons.