In the [[Arab World]], "Banana Republic" or "Banana State" usually refers to the Western [[Maghreb]] and GCC {Saudi, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait} Arab States as well as Egypt, due to their lack of political support to the rest of the Arab World, as well as the cultural (and sometimes political) influence that those in favour of islamist policies allege is exerted upon them by [[France]], [[Britain]] and the [[United States]]. ManyThese ofcritics themperceive that these countries are "ruled from the embassies of these Western countries in their respective capitals", i.e. bow too easily to Western inflluence, especially on subject matters as individual freedom, rule of law, religious freedom, or gay rights.
The term was first used in the islamist Arab media, and later caught on with [[islamism|islamist]] commentators and guests on different Arabic channels, radio stations, and other media. Most of the Arab peopleIslamists encourage more frequent use of this term in the Western media, due to the political positions taken and events held by these states failing to help what are allegedly "wider Arab causes", such as those in Palestine, Iraq, and Sudan. Most Arabs would disagree that the reaction to the "wider Arab cause" as heralded by islamist media in the case of Iraq (where the "Arab cause" means waging a civil war against Shiites, who are mainly of Persian ethicity), and in the case of Sudan, where the term is an euphemism for genocide in [[Darfur]], has the hallmarks of a banana republic.
