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{{Short description|Ideology espousing the unification of the Arab world}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date = September 2024}}
{{redirect|Arab Dream|the song|The Arab Dream}}
[[File:Arab_world_location_map.svg|thumb|264px|Map of the [[Arab world]]]]
Pan-Arabism was first pressed by [[Sherif Hussein ibn Ali]], the [[Sherif of Mecca]], who sought independence from the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the establishment of a unified state of Arabia. In [[1915]]-[[1916|16]], the [[Hussein-McMahon Correspondence]] resulted in an agreement between [[Britain]] and the Sharif that if the Arabs successfully revolted against the Ottomans, Britain would support claims for Arab independence. In 1916, however, the [[Sykes-Picot Agreement]] between Britain and [[France]] determined that crucial parts of the Middle East would be divided between those powers rather than forming part of an independent Arab state. When [[Turkey]] surrendered in [[1918]], Britain refused to keep to the letter of its arrangements with Hussein and the two nations assumed guardianship of several newly-created states. The promised "Arabia" (later [[Saudi Arabia]]) was formed in the less valuable south. ▼
[[File:Flag of Hejaz (1917).svg|thumb|264px|The [[flag of the Arab Revolt]] was originally used against the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turks]], and remains a prominent symbol of Pan-Arabism. The design and [[Pan-Arab colors|colours]] are the basis of many modern [[List of Arab flags|Arab states' flags]]. ]]
[[File:Flag of Egypt without eagle.svg|thumb|264px|The [[Arab Liberation Flag]] was created by the [[Free Officers movement (Egypt)|Free Officers movement]] that led the [[1952 Egyptian revolution]]. The flag is associated with [[Nasserism]], [[republicanism]], and Pan-Arabism. Several modern Arab flags use the Arab Liberation Flag as a model.]]
{{Politics of the Arab League}}
'''Pan-Arabism''' ({{langx|ar|الوحدة العربية|al-waḥda al-ʿarabiyyah|lit=Arab unity}}) is a [[Pan-nationalism|pan-nationalist]] ideology that espouses the unification of all [[Arabs|Arab people]] in a single [[Nation state|nation-state]], consisting of all Arab countries of [[West Asia]] and [[North Africa]] from the [[Atlantic Ocean]] to the [[Arabian Sea]], which is referred to as the [[Arab world]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Rubin |first=Barry |date=1991 |title=Pan-Arab Nationalism: The Ideological Dream as Compelling Force |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/260659 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=26 |issue=3/4 |pages=535–551 |doi=10.1177/002200949102600310 |jstor=260659 |issn=0022-0094|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=pan-Arabism |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100303333 |access-date=2023-07-24 |website=Oxford Reference |language=en }}</ref> It is closely connected to [[Arab nationalism]], which asserts the view that the Arabs constitute a single [[nation]]. It originated in the late 19th century among the Arab regions of the [[Ottoman Empire]], and its popularity reached its height during the peak of [[Nasserism]] and [[Ba'athism]] in the 1950s and 1960s. Advocates of pan-Arabism have often espoused [[Arab socialism|Arab socialist]] principles and strongly [[anti-Western sentiment|opposed the political involvement]] of the [[Western world]] in the Arab world. It also sought to empower Arab states against outside forces by forming alliances such as the [[Arab League]].<ref name="Continuum"/>
==Origins and development==
The origins of pan-Arabism are often attributed to the [[Nahda]] (Arab awakening or enlightenment) movement that flourished in the Arab regions of the [[Ottoman Empire]] in the late 19th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pan-Arabism {{!}} History, Significance, and Rise {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pan-Arabism |access-date=2023-07-24 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> A prominent figure was [[Jurji Zaydan]] (1861–1914), who played a key role in laying the intellectual foundation for Pan-Arabism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Civantos |first=Christina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4uw_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 |title=The Afterlife of al-Andalus: Muslim Iberia in Contemporary Arab and Hispanic Narratives |date=2017-11-21 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=978-1-4384-6669-9 |pages=23 |language=en}}</ref> Zaydan had critical influence on acceptance of a modernized version of the Quranic Arabic language ([[Modern Standard Arabic]]) as the universal written and official language throughout the Arab world, instead of adoption of [[Varieties of Arabic|local dialects]] in the various countries. Zaydan wrote several articles during the early 20th century which emphasized that Arabic-speaking regions stretching from the Maghreb to the Persian Gulf constitute one people with a shared national consciousness and that this linguistic bond trumped religious, racial and specific territorial bonds, inspired in part by his status as a [[Levant]]ine Christian [[émigré]] in 19th century Egypt. He also popularized through his historical novels a secular understanding of Arab history encompassing the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods into a shared history that all Arabs could claim as their own.
▲
A more formalized pan-Arab ideology than that of Hussein was first espoused in the [[1930s]], notably by [[Syria]]n thinkers such as [[Constantin Zureiq]], [[Zaki al-Arsuzi]] and [[Michel Aflaq]]. Aflaq and al-Arsuzi were key figures in the establishment of the [[Ba'ath Party| Arab Ba'ath (Resurrection) Party]], and the former was for long its chief ideologist, combining elements of Marxist thought with a nationalism to a considerable extent reminiscent of nineteenth-century European romantic nationalism. <!-- Aflaq combined [[palingenetic]] [[socialism]] and [[Italy|Italian]] [[fascism]] with elements of [[19th-century]] [[European]] [[anti-Semitism]] and xenophobic hatreds of other non-Arab nationalities, in particular [[Persian|Persians]]. some sort of reputable source for this characterisation of Aflaq's thought would be nice --> 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]]. ▼
▲A more formalized pan-Arab ideology than that of Hussein was first espoused in the
[[Abdullah I of Jordan]] dreamed of uniting [[Syria]], [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]], and Jordan under his leadership in what he would call [[Syria (region)|Greater Syria]]. He unsuccessfully proposed a plan to this effect to the [[United Kingdom]], which controlled [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]] at that time. The plan was not popular among the majority of Arabs and fostered distrust among the leaders of the other Middle Eastern countries against Abdullah. The distrust of [[Abdullah I of Jordan#Expansionist aspirations|Abdullah's expansionist aspirations]] was one of the principal reasons for the founding of the [[Arab League]] in 1945.<ref>[[Avraham Sela|Sela, Avraham]]. "Arab League." Sela. ''The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East''. 147-150.</ref> Once [[Abdullah I of Jordan#Assassination|Abdullah was assassinated]] by a [[Palestinian nationalism|Palestinian nationalist]] in 1951, the vision of Greater Syria was dropped from the Jordanian agenda.<ref name="Continuum">"Arab Unity." ''The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East''. Ed. [[Avraham Sela]]. New York: Continuum, 2002. pp. 160–166.</ref>
Although pan-Arabism began at the time of [[World War I]], [[Egypt]] (the most populous and arguably most important Arab country) was not interested in pan-Arabism prior to the 1950s. Thus, in the 1930s and 1940s, [[Egyptian nationalism]] – not pan-Arabism – was the dominant mode of expression of Egyptian political activists. James Jankowski wrote about Egypt at the time,
== See also ==▼
{{Quote|What is most significant is the absence of an Arab component in early Egyptian nationalism. The thrust of Egyptian political, economic, and cultural development throughout the nineteenth century worked against, rather than for, an 'Arab' orientation. ... This situation—that of divergent political trajectories for Egyptians and Arabs—if anything increased after 1900.<ref>Jankowski, James. "Egypt and Early Arab Nationalism" in Rashid Khalidi, ed. ''The Origins of Arab Nationalism''. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990, pp. 244–45</ref>}}
* [[Arab nationalism]]▼
==Attempts
{{See also|Arab Union}}
[http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/ArabNationalism.htm Arab Nationalism: Mistaken Identity] by [[Martin Kramer]]▼
It was not until [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] that [[Arab nationalism]] (in addition to [[Arab socialism]]) became a state policy and a means with which to define Egypt's position in the Middle East and the world,<ref>For more information, see Aburish, Said K. (2004), Nasser, the Last Arab, New York City: St. Martin's Press, {{ISBN|978-0-312-28683-5}}</ref><ref>"Before Nasser, Egypt, which had been ruled by Britain since 1882, was more in favor of territorial, Egyptian nationalism and distant from the pan-Arab ideology. Egyptians often did not identify themselves primarily as Arabs, and it is revealing that when the Egyptian nationalist leader [[Saad Zaghlul]] met the Arab delegates at Versailles in 1918, he insisted that their struggles for statehood were not connected, claiming that the problem of Egypt was an Egyptian problem and not an Arab one." Makropoulou, Ifigenia. [http://www.ekem.gr/archives/2007/01/pan_arabism_wha.html Pan - Arabism: What Destroyed the Ideology of Arab Nationalism?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002224756/http://www.ekem.gr/archives/2007/01/pan_arabism_wha.html |date=2018-10-02 }}. Hellenic Center for European Studies. January 15, 2007.</ref> usually articulated vis-à-vis [[Zionism]] in the neighboring state of Israel.
[[Image:Gamal Abdel Nasser (c. 1960s).jpg|thumb|upright|left|Under [[President of Egypt|Egyptian President]] [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]], pan-Arabism dominated politics in the 1950s and 1960s.]]
There have been several attempts to bring about a pan-Arab state by many well-known Arab leaders, all of which ultimately resulted in failure. British Foreign Minister [[Anthony Eden]] called for Arab unity during the 1940s, and was followed by specific proposals from pro-British leaders, including King [[Abdullah I of Jordan|Abdullah of Transjordan]] and Prime Minister [[Nuri al-Said]] of Iraq, but Egyptian proposals for a broader grouping of independent Arab states prevailed with the establishment of the League of Arab States, a regional international organization, in 1945. In large part representing the popularity Nasser had gained among the masses in the Arab world following the [[Suez Crisis]], the [[United Arab Republic]] (UAR) in 1958 was the first case of the actual merger of two previously-independent Arab countries. Hastily formed under President Nasser's leadership but on the initiative of Syrian leaders who feared a takeover by communists or "reactionaries" and hoped to lead the new entity, the UAR was a unitary state, not a federal union, with its critics seeing this as hardly more than a small country being annexed by a larger one. It lasted until 1961, when Syrian army officers carried out a ''coup d'état'' and withdrew from the union. As politicians felt pressured by the wide public to espouse the idea of unity, Egypt, Syria and Iraq entered into an abortive agreement in 1963 to form the United Arab Republic, which was to be "federal in structure, leaving each member state its identity and institutions."<ref name="Continuum" /> By 1961, Egypt had become the only remaining member but continued to call itself "the UAR" (thereby implying it was open for unification with other Arab countries), but it eventually renamed itself the "Arab Republic of Egypt" in 1973.<ref>"United Arab Republic (UAR)." Sela. ''The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East''. 873-874.</ref>
[[Category:Arab]]▼
[[File:UAR and Arab Federation 1958.png|thumb|Middle East in 1958: [[United Arab Republic]] (red), [[United Arab States]] (red and light-red), [[Arab Federation]] (green), [[Sheikhdom of Kuwait|British Kuwait]] (grass green), other [[British protectorate]]s in the Arab Gulf (light green)]]
[[Category:Arab-Israeli conflict]]▼
Also in 1958, a [[Hashemites|Hashemite]]-led rival, the [[Arab Federation]], was founded between [[Jordan]] and [[Kingdom of Iraq|Iraq]]. Tensions with the UAR and the [[14 July Revolution]] made the Arab Federation collapse after only six months. Another attempt, the [[United Arab States]], existed as a confederation between the United Arab Republic and the [[Kingdom of Yemen|Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen]], but it dissolved in 1961.
Two later attempts represented the enthusiasm of [[Libya]]'s [[Muammar Gaddafi]], the [[Federation of Arab Republics]], which lasted five years, and the [[Arab Islamic Republic]] with [[Tunisia]], which also aimed to include [[Algeria]] and [[Morocco]] but never emerged in practice. Muammar Gaddafi had talks with [[Chadli Bendjedid]] in 1988 about forming an Algeria-Libya union.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reich |first=Bernard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3D5FulN2WqQC&pg=PA96 |title=Political Leaders of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa: A Biographical Dictionary |date=1990 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-26213-5 |language=en}}</ref> Instead the [[Arab Maghreb Union]] was formed in 1989. Aside from the forcible unification of much of the [[Arabian Peninsula]] by the Saudi rulers of Najd during the 1920s, the [[History of the United Arab Emirates#Federation of nine emirates|unity of seven Arab emirates]] that form the [[United Arab Emirates]] and [[Yemeni unification|the unification of North Yemen and South Yemen]] stand today as rare examples of actual unification. The former governments of Iraq and Syria were both led by rival factions of the [[Ba'ath Party]], which, until the [[fall of the Assad regime]] in 2024, espoused pan-Arabism.
==Decline==
{{See also|Arab Cold War}}
[[File:Nasser's Funeral Procession.png|left|thumb|Nasser's funeral procession attended by five million mourners in Cairo, 1 October 1970]]
The decline of pan-Arabism is attributed to several factors. Problems persisted over a wide range of issues since the inception of pan-Arabist philosophy in the late 1800s, which, until its decline, had kept pan-Arabism on course for causal failure. The factors include: the promotion of [[pan-Islamism]], the sectarian and social differences within the different Arab societies; the competition between different Arab leaders to be the leading voice for the Arab and Islamic worlds; and, to a lesser extent, military defeat against an enemy force.
The promotion of pan-Islamism had been a key aspect within Arab and Muslim societies. Such philosophy dictated for a united Islamic ‘Ummah’ or the close bounding of all Islamic communities to maintain and promote an essence of one family, one cause. The philosophy of pan-Arabism placed itself in contradiction to the philosophy of pan-Islamism as was clarified by religious scholars and Sheikhs within the various Arab countries, especially the Persian gulf. The belief held by critics emphasized that pan-Arabism separated itself from the [[Ummah]] in that it only promoted Arab unity and ideals, not Islamic ones. The religious conservatism within the societies propelled pan-Islamism to defeat alternative thoughts such as pan-Arabism.
Various sectarian and social differences within the various Arab societies was another fueling factor for pan-Arabism's decline. Sporadic [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] and [[Shia Islam|Shia]] religious divide exacerbated by internal and foreign factors caused reconsideration within Arab circles as to whether pan-Arabism was viable although the issue was religiously oriented. Social differences toed a similar line. Countries like [[Lebanon]] and [[Syria]] considered secular brought about a clash of thought with the likes of religious [[Saudi Arabia]], whose longstanding promotion of religion was contradictory to the goals of the secular hierarchy within the two Levantine countries, for example.
Different Arab leaders competed to become the leading voices for the Arab and Islamic worlds. Such competition sporadically resulted in friction between the leaders of these Arab countries. The [[United Arab Republic]], which was formulated by [[Egypt]]’s [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] and [[Syria]]’s [[Shukri al-Quwatli]], was promoted to be the collective voice for the Arab world and the spearhead of pan-Arabism. Being the only physical incarnation of pan-Arabism, it did not receive the expected praise from other Arab nations, especially in the Gulf, which further added to the decline of pan-Arabism.
To a lesser extent, the military defeat to “arch-enemy” Israel made both prominent sources of pan-Arabism reconsider such philosophy. The [[United Arab Republic]], consisting of [[Egypt]] and [[Syria]], received ideological burden due to the unfavorable outcome, thus putting pan-Arabism in question. The victory of [[Israel]] in the 1967 [[Six-Day War]] and the inability of Egypt and Syria to generate economic growth in some form, also damaged pan-Arabism's credibility. "By the mid-1970s," according to ''The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East'', "the idea of Arab unity became less and less apparent in Arab politics, though it remained a wishful goal among the masses."<ref name="Continuum" />
By the late 1980s, pan-Arabism began to be eclipsed by both [[Nationalism|nationalist]] and [[Islamism|Islamist]] ideologies. Although pan-Arabism lost appeal by the 1990s, it continued to exercise an intellectual hegemony throughout the Arab world.<ref name=":0" />
*[[Ba'athism]]
*[[Biladol Orb Awtani]]
*[[Pan-Africanism]]
*[[Pan-Iranism]]
*[[Pan-Islamism]]
*[[Pan-Semitism]]
*[[Pan-Turkism]]
==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
<!--See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref(erences/)> tags-->
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==External links==
▲*[http://www.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20150330144746/http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s7549.html Sample chapter from Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century] by A. Dawisha
*[https://archive.today/20130120055352/http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/-em-pan-arabism-on-the-march-em--israel-weighs-the-new-challenge-2783 "Pan-Arabism on the March?: Israel Weighs the New Challenge"] by Nissim Rejwan
{{Irredentism}}
{{Pan-nationalist concepts}}
{{Arab League}}
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[[Category:Pan-nationalism|Arabism]]
[[Category:Political movements]]
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