Arab nationalism
Arab nationalism is a nationalism ideology in Arab world. It is defined by a belief that all Arabs are united by a shared history, culture, and languge. Closely related is Pan-Arabism which calls for thecreation of a single Arab state, but not all Arab nationalist are also Pan-Arabists.Prior to the First World War, Arab nationalism was not a strong force. Arabs generally did not see themselves as members of a nation or people. Instead, Arabs held loyalty to their local religious or political leaders, their tribe, or their own particular governments. The ideologies of Ottomanism and Pan-Islamism were stronger than Arab nationalism. Arab nationalist thought was confined to a few intellectuals mostly in Beirut and Cairo.
The ideology first became important during the collapse of Ottoman authority. The rise of the Young Turks and CUP alienated many of the empires supproters in the Arab lands. The powerful notable families, exceluded by the new governments in Istanbul, turned towards Arabism as an alternative. The CUP governemnt was also accussed of tryin to Turkify the empire. This new spirit was manifested in the Arab Revolt during the First World War and the first failed attempts at Arab unity under the Hashemites.
While during the war teh British had been a major sponsor of Arab nationalist thought, in order to use it against hte Ottoman Empire, during the Mandate period Arab nationalism became strongly anti-colonial. During the interwar years when the Arab lands were under colonial control Arab nationalism became an important opposition movement.
Important Arab nationalist thinkers include Michel Aflaq and Sati' al-Husri. The most prominent of Arab nationalist world leaders include Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Dictator for life Moammar Al Qadhafi of Libya and former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The Arab nationalist movement was strongest in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
In 1958 the states of Egypt and Syrian temporarily joined to create a new nation, the United Arab Republic. Attempts were also made to include Yemen in the union, but the UAR collapsed in 1961 after a coup in Syria, leaving only Egypt, which had been the centre of political activity in the UAR, with Cairo as the capital and Gamal Abdal Nasser as the president. The name United Arab Republic continued to be used by Egypt until 1971, after the death of Nasser.
Arab nationalists generally were not religious, and did not promote observance of Islamic laws as such; however, the fact that most Arabs were Muslim was used as an important building block in creating a new Arab Muslim national identity. The a large number of early Arab nationalist thinkers were not Mulisms, but Arab Christians from Lebanon and Syria. An example of this is Michel Aflaq, the founder of the Ba'ath Party.
Competing with Arab nationlism throughout the Middle East are regional nationalisms and allegiances to the post-WWI states such as Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. Many Arab nationalist argue these states are artificial creations, their opponents, such as Syrianists in Syria argue that there are clear ethnic differences between Syrians and other Arabs.
The definition of what is an Arab differs from group to group. Two major division are between the majority who argue that being Arab is a cultural and linguistic feature, and others that argue it is racial. Those who believe being Arab is cultural admit such peoples as the Arabic speaking Kurds and other minority groups to the larger Arab nation.
The geographic delineation of what is an Arab is also variable. North Africa, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen are all excluded from some definitions of who is an Arab.
Arab nationalist thinkers
Also see