Pan-Arabism

Pan-Arabism is a movement for unification among the Arab peoples and nations of the Middle East. It is closely connected to Arab nationalism.

Though its origins can be traced to the anti-Imperialist nationalist movement among Arab peoples preceding World War I, a more formalized pan-Arab ideology was first espoused in the 1940s in Syria by Michel Aflaq, a founder of the Ba'ath (Renaissance) Party, combining elements of both socialism and Italian fascism. A pan-Arab ideology lay at the basis of various attempts over the past fifty years to unite various Arab nation-states, most notably the short-lived United Arab Republic, which united Egypt and Syria, thus encompassing Sunni, Shia, Druze, and Christian Arabs, among others. Similarly, Tariq Aziz, a Christian and the deputy prime minister of Iraq under Saddam Hussein, was another prominent pan-Arabist.

The Syrian government is, and the former government of Iraq was, led by the Ba'ath Party, which espouses pan-Arabism.