Nationalism in the Middle East

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3. When discussing nationalism in the Arab world, scholars have distinguished between pan-Arabism (qawmiyya) and nation-state nationalism (wataniya). Define the two forms of nationalism, explain the differences between them and their place in modern Middle Eastern history.

Pan-Arabism refers to the aspiration to form a single Arabian super state/an Arab nation (umma arabiyya); the ideology calls for the uniting of all Arab states to form a powerful political union to protect the interests of the Arabs. The main principle of the ideology is the notion that the inhabitants of the Arab world stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Suez Canal are citizens of one nation united by common linguistic, cultural, religious and historical tradition. The key objective of the ideology is to end the influence of the Western powers on the Arab world that has watered down the strength of the Arabs as well as overthrowing Arab government that has been supporting and are dependent upon Western countries. The Pan-Arabism ideology became famous with the weakening and defeat of the Ottoman Empire. Nonetheless, its prominence has considerably gone down in the past four decades after the Arab armies were defeated by Israel in the Six-Day War. The ideology was founded by Michael Iflaq; supporters of Pan-Arabism included Jamal Abdel Nasser (former Egypt leader), Libyan late leader Muammar Gaddafi, Arab Socialist Baath Party and Arab Nationalist Movement. Nasser was the most vocal Pan-Arab supporter who even employed his military and political power to extend the philosophy across the Arab world.

The philosophy of pan-Arabism developed as early as 1860s when intellectuals in Levant and Egypt within the Ottoman Empire developed a sense of loyalty to th...

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...here they influence policy making. The Russian government holds a different view about the Middle East and this has led to distrust between the western powers including the United States and Russia. China, which has invested heavily in the region, has expressed dissatisfaction with the western powers perception of the Easterners that is not based on concrete facts. Indeed, the Cold War was fueled by the ideological differences of the Soviet Union and the Western powers particularly on the Gulf War. While the west supported the war to safeguard their interests in the Middle East, the Soviet Union opposed it arguing that the West had breached the international protocol regarding relationship among countries. The American government current foreign policy is aimed at bringing peace to the Middle East; since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, peace has evaded the region.

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