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The Decline of Arab Unity: The Rise and Fall of the United Arab Republic
Abstract
The union between Egypt and Syria - known as the United Arab Republic, 1958-1961 - was a seminal episode in Arab politics. This is the first book that analyzes the reasons for the establishment of this union and its failure. It deals with the political, social and economic reasons that led Gamal 'Abd al-Nasser, the legendary Arab leader, to merge with Syria and the impact of pan-Arabism on the setting up and dissolution of this entity.
... Accordingly, the incidents of the year prompted all parties to re-evaluate their attitudes towards each other. Nasser understood that any drastic action in Syria to eliminate communist influence would not succeed on its own but required the American support or at least its blessing (Podeh 1999). From the Syrian side, Ba'ath Party and other nationalist elements realized the dangers represented by the Communist Party's members, who became more active in Syrian political arena and gained more prestige at their own expense (Seale 1965). ...
... 193). The US's apathetic reaction to the union was so disappointed to the conservative Arab leaders, particularly to Iraq (Podeh 1999). ...
... 35 See p.115 for more on PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, who speaks very little Kurdish. leaders (Podeh, 1999). The Arab-Israeli wars, particularly '48 and '67, were Cold War-fueled and crippled by the absence of coordination between the nations' commanders (see Louis and Shlaim, 2012). ...
This ethnographic research examines the role of Islam in modern Kurdish society in Iraq and Turkey. The major findings are that despite their commonalities, Kurdish national narratives are undermined by the factionalism and sectarianism woven throughout the histories of Islam and Kurdish relations in the region. The result of this is a conflict-ridden codependency between secular and Islamist parties and identities which includes a contest for authority over national narratives. The research also demonstrates how specific Western masculine archetypes have been subsumed into local masculine ideation, influencing the content and format of propaganda used in these contests.
... In fact, between 1952 and 1960, one half of Umm Kulthum's songs were 'national in style' (Danielson, 1997, p. 164). When Egypt and Syria united and formed the United Arab Republic (UAR) in 1958, at the heyday of the pan-Arab movement under Nasser's charismatic leadership (Podeh, 1999), the new political entity designated a flag and anthem. Because of the popularity of both the singer and the Egyptian anthem, it was also adopted as the anthem of the UAR. ...
The national flag, anthem and emblem are the three symbols through which an independent country proclaims its identity and sovereignty. These symbols are universal signs of particularity. In spite of their symbolic significance, national anthems have not been the subject of widespread scholarship. This is particularly true with regard to the Arab world. The aim of this article is, therefore, threefold: first, to explore the historical, political and cultural sources of these anthems; second, to analyse the anthems' themes; and finally, to explore whether a commonality between the various Arab anthems can be found. The article advances three arguments: First, in contrast to the stability of anthems outside the Middle East, anthems in the Arab world underwent changes since independence, yet several countries retained their original anthems. The changes reflected the change of regime and/or historical narrative. Second, the consolidation of the territorial Arab state has also been reflected in the symbolic framework. And, finally, the Arab anthem is a hybrid symbol, amalgamating Western and Eastern cultural artefacts—Arab, Muslim or territorial.
... He had sent in his deputy, Vice President Abdel Hakim Amer, who frequently clashed with his Syrian counterparts and was expelled from Damascus as the UAR crumbled in 1961. 37 Indeed, the ultimate test of subversive power is the ability to remotely govern other countries effectively. Second, the level of great-power support that he received was far from sufficient. ...
Since the end of World War II, several local actors have tried to gain regional dominance in the Middle East. These attempts have met with varying levels of success. This study seeks to explain this variation. We will not address the equally important question of when and why specific states decide to make bids for regional dominance. We maintain that while realism is a useful theoretical lens for explaining this variation, it is necessary to adjust some realist assumptions slightly to make realism work well in the Middle Eastern context. This is so because realism was developed based on modern European and American experiences. Specifically, our adjustments of realism’s
assumptions produced the following three preconditions that must be met for a local actor’s bid to succeed. First, one must pursue those types of power which are the most potent at a specific time
given the Middle Eastern environment. Second, while traditional realists recommend forging large coalitions by reducing threat perception and making bargains through traditional diplomacy or
Realpolitik, we argue that domination through subversion or intimidation is more effective. Third, one must not only avoid counterproductive intervention by the great powers, but also have them actively on one’s side.
Gamal Abdel Nasser used his strong response to the 1956 Suez Canal crisis to elevate his political position within Egypt. However, Nasser and Egypt did not respond to European and Israeli aggression alone. World-wide political pressure caused the Suez Canal Crisis to serve as a turning point where French and British global dominance were surpassed by that of the United States and the Soviet Union. However, China also played a substantial role in aiding Egypt. In a recognition of Egypt’s analogical circumstances of ideological struggle versus imperial powers and out of a desire to establish stronger relations in the area, China used their state response to build stronger connections with both Nasser and Egypt. As a result of the Chinese response to the Suez Canal Crisis, the foundations were laid for more positive Chinese-Egyptian relations for the next several decades.
The fall of the Ottoman Empire during World War One and the emergence of the modern state system in the Middle East have received significant attention in academic literature. However, the impacts that the proliferation of state borders in the 19th and 20th centuries have had on political and economic integration within the Middle East is often ignored. This study argues that between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries the region underwent significant structural changes. Furthermore, these changes were driven by external intervention and internal decline. A number of theoretical assumptions are posited concerning the importance on integration and cooperation of the following: the increase in borders and claims to sovereignty and the separation of peoples/markets. The conclusions drawn are that the change from a system characterised by large political actors and integrated markets to one which is characterised by smaller states and separated markets led to the disintegration of the region's internal relations.
The evolution of migration policymaking across the Global South is of growing interest to International Relations. Yet, the impact of colonial and imperial legacies on states’ migration management regimes outside Europe and North America remains under-theorised. How does postcolonial state formation shape policies of cross-border mobility management in the Global South? By bringing James F. Hollifield’s framework of the contemporary ‘migration state’ in conversation with critical scholarship on postcolonialism, we identify the existence of a ‘postcolonial paradox,’ namely two sets of tensions faced by newly independent states of the Global South: first, the need to construct a modern sovereign nation-state with a well-defined national identity contrasts with weak institutional capacity to do so; second, territorial realities of sovereignty conflict with the imperatives of nation-building seeking to establish exclusive citizenship norms towards populations residing both inside and outside the boundaries of the postcolonial state. We argue that the use of cross-border mobility control policies to reconcile such tensions transforms the ‘postcolonial state’ into the ‘postcolonial migration state,’ which shows distinct continuities with pre-independence practices. In fact, postcolonial migration states reproduce colonial-era tropes via the surveillance and control of segmented migration streams that redistribute labour for the global economy. We demonstrate this via a comparative study of post-independence migration management in India and Egypt, which also aims to merge a problematic regional divide between scholarship on the Middle East and South Asia. We urge further critical interventions on the international politics of migration that prioritise interregional perspectives from the broader Global South.
Since their independences, divisions among the MENA states have hindered their coordination of foreign, political and economic policies.
This chapter offers a critical perspective on contemporary security in the Middle East, by exploring the ways in which state and non-state armed groups have sought to reorder the regional balance of power, especially after the 2003 American-led in- vasion of Iraq. It reveals the strategic processes of politicization and depoliticization of violence that key regional and foreign actors employ in order to delegitimize or legitimize the use of violence in pursuit of rival political agendas. These dynamics are central in understanding the conflict and the scramble for control over resources and political developments in key countries across the Middle East.
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