Why there is no Arab superstate

[Music] nations make their own history but they do not make it in a vacuum or as they please the arab world knows this better than most situated at the junction of africa asia and europe the arab sphere has long been a magnet for geopolitical tension its strategically valuable land passages and waterways attracted imperial powers from every direction a fact amplified by the discovery of hydrocarbon wealth yet over the course of the 20th century arab societies sought to rid themselves of extraneous influences and built their own state the idea of an arab superstate captured the imagination one stretching from the sapphire atlantic coast of morocco to the bountiful nile river in egypt to the golden desert dunes of saudi arabia all the way to the fertile crescent in iraq going by modern metrics an arab superstate would boast a population of 436 million and the gdp of 2.7 trillion ranking third and seventh respectively worldwide at the time of its inception in the 20th century such nation-building endeavors were facilitated by a rich cultural commons a shared language and the islamic faith from these foundations pan-arabic and pan-islamic sentiments gave rise to numerous attempts at union but none of these succeeded on the contrary the arab world is as divided as ever 22 sovereign states no less so what exactly went wrong why is there no arab superstate [Music] today's video is sponsored by nordvpn a tool that hides your ip and reduces your digital footprint no one including isp operators can see what you're up to nordvpn ensures a secure and private web experience which is now more important than ever i've been using nordvpn since 2019 and i have no reason to change the app is user friendly fast and works on most devices and operating systems whenever i travel abroad i activate the app on my tablet laptop and phone it gives me peace of mind but nordvpn is more than just a vpn inside the app there is a malware blocker at no additional cost for a limited time you can also use north pass to store and generate passwords which is very convenient and you can use nord locker to encrypt and protect your files in the cloud go to nordvpn.com caspian report or click the link in the description to get an exclusive nordvpn deal plus one month for free try now nordvpn risk free with a 30-day money-back guarantee at first glance the arab world appears as a fragmented collection of states jagged borders dissect its physical terrain while ethno-religious and sectarian divisions amplify these geographic fault lines but this fragmented appearance bellies the region's history in truth the arab world has known as much composure as it has turmoil the early islamic conquests meant that by the mid 7th century the umayyad khalifat commanded that empire stretching from portugal to pakistan the speedy acquisition of byzantine territory meant that large jewish and christian communities were absorbed into the khalifa the abbasid dynasty which soon overthrew the umayyads upheld policies of toleration under islamic law non-muslims were subject to special taxes but also special perks within this structure societies could generally pursue their own beliefs and customs umayyid and abbasid heritage provided a framework in which a vibrant intellectual culture took root baghdad damascus and cairo became centers of learning generating advances in philosophy theology culture science and law meanwhile the preservation of greek classics in arabic allowed later retransmission to the western canon helping give impetus to the european renaissance above all the arab golden age established a shared cultural commons that many regional leaders have since sought to draw upon for centuries though national ambitions were stifled ottoman hegemony over the arab homeland from the 16th century onwards meant arab societies were subjected to turkish rule treatment of arabs varied across times sometimes repressive often less affair by the turn of the 18th century waning ottoman power invited british and french influence into the middle east the promotion of christian missions and schools in lebanon mesopotamia and the levant helped transmit european ideas into the arab world including the novel concepts of secularism and nationalism at the same time the arab muslim community underwent its own transformation ottoman decay had opened the national question for subject societies these sentiments coalesced around movements such as the nada reformers who combined islamic solidarity with european concept of a nation-state and before long these ideas spread to the levant and arabia and the success of slavic nationalists in the balkans in casting the ottomans aside only lent further credibility to their cause though arab clans pursued independence by joining the anglo-french alliance in world war one their hopes were dashed when paris and london partitioned the arab homeland between themselves anti-western sentiment hardened and was amplified by british support for jewish settlers in palestine as such a new philosophy which preserved cohesion and accommodated arab diversity was needed to protect against imperial powers in this the arab conquests of old provided an ideological touchstone an arab superstate stretching from morocco to iraq would harness the region's strategic geography human capital and natural resources following world war ii decolonization provided a blank canvas onto which pan-arab unions could be realized the first proposal for a unified arab state was the fertile crescent union between the hashemite kingdoms of iraq and jordan as well as syria and palestine on the surface the plan had some validity the fertile crescent running along the tigris and euphrates rivers gave the region a semblance of geographic cohesion yet the main obstacles were political the creation of a jewish state in palestine foreclosed the possibility of full implementation one decade later pan-arab aspirations were given a second life by gamal abdernasser's united arab republic after cairo forced britain france and israel into a humiliating retreat during the 1956 suez crisis other arab nations looked to egypt for leadership and sought union with it in syria for instance the bahat party placed itself under kairos control and with the consent of both populations egypt and syria unified in 1958 they were soon joined in a confederation by the north yemeni monarchy which wanted to leverage egyptian power to balance saudi arabia's influence before long this grouping reformed as the united arab states appeared on the way to becoming a regional powerhouse iraq and jordan responded by forming their own union known as the arab federation the new state aimed to protect the hashemite monarchies from nazarism but the union collapsed after six months when pro-nasser military officers staged a coup in baghdad both iraq and jordan then openly considered joining the egyptian-led united arab states and yet both the uar and the uas were marriages of convenience and when the syrian bahathists became frustrated with their secondary role they took control back from nasser in the 1961 coup north yemen quickly followed suit shortly thereafter becoming bogged down in a lengthy civil war pan-arab sentiment subsided until the 1970s when muammar ghadafi proposed the federation of arab republics consisting of libya egypt and syria though it came into being in 1972 its existence was nominal differences between qadhafi and egypt's president sadat prevented full integration and when syria and egypt attacked israel in 1973 without consulting libya relations strained further still and like so the official dissolution of the federation in 1977 came hardly as a surprise the weakness of the federation of arab republics meant it also had the content with the proposal made by saddam hussein in reviving the fertile crescent union saddam sought to unify with bahathist syria and iraq with egypt named the union of arab republics saddam intended to encircle jordan and use palestine as a wedge against israel and jordan but this time differences between baghdad and damascus caused the project to fail khadafi meanwhile attempted another union this time with tunisia known as the arab islamic republic qadhafi's modest project aimed to trigger step-by-step arab integration but the arrangement was ambiguous and this soon caused tunisia to fall back on its obligations the arab islamic republic's existence did not go beyond its paperwork some 50 years of experiments at arab unity had produced only one constant failure at every turn and yet few political forces are as potent as the sense of lost glory and the arab world has this in abundance but pan national sentiment struggles when confronting hard geographic facts and though it is easy to attribute pan-arabism's failures to culture or personality these are usually mere manifestations of geopolitical landscapes the arab world's vast deserts and scarce arable lands create territorial barriers the only exceptions being the aforementioned northern libya the fertile crescent the barbar coast and the nile beyond these isolated pockets demographic centers are far and few with vast distances in between geography is no friend to the arab world historical factors have hampered arab unity as well european colonization led to jagged and uneven territorial partitions resource extraction also meant the region's geo-economic properties developed to be outward facing even today trade within the arab world is not nearly as important as trade with the outside world uneven distribution of political power and economic weight has prevented the integration of the arab sphere into one cohesive federation the end result of this is that the arab nations scrambled for geopolitical influence and foreign patronage the cold war reinforced this trend following the 1973 arab israeli war egypt sought a separate peace with israel under u.s supervision this reoriented cairo towards washington and undermined arab solidarity thereby weakening unification prospects political islam then stepped into the void left by pan-arabism's shortcomings and since pan-arab nationalism's internal narrative drew heavily from islamic accomplishments islamism could make a better claim to cultural sources of legitimacy in the decades following a renewed emphasis on religion brought renewed sectarianism starting with the 1979 shia revolution in iran the rise of a persian theocracy altered regional power dynamics groups like hezbollah gained traction by opposing israel and providing valuable social services to lebanon's shia minority still later iran's soft power influence strengthened when washington toppled saddam in 2003 allowing tehran to assert influence over iraq's new shia government not to be outdone the kingdom of saudi arabia launched its own soft power initiative beginning in the 1980s riyadh hosted salafist and wahhabist schools and cultural institutions across the muslim world awash with petro dollars over the next 30 years the saudis spent more than 75 billion dollars on these efforts in what was perhaps the most well-funded propaganda drive in history this spread sunni radicalism across the muslim world from algeria to indonesia and the resulting cross-border conflicts and displacement of communities only increased friction between the arab countries all things being equal unification has been a nation-building theme and the arab world's cultural imagination but the road map towards that objective forms the basis for both conflict and cooperation and though all attempts thus far have failed the idea of an arab superstate has left its fingerprints on many divergent movements from nationalists to pan-arabists to islamists even isis which sought to construct a new halifat without regard to national boundaries drew inspiration from earlier arab conquests clearly fundamentalist groups hold a perverse interpretation of an pan-arab ideal but one that nevertheless continues to shape middle east politics all in all the idea of an arab superstate hearkens to a greater past and provides a vision for the future but given the geographic and political obstacles that is probably how it will remain arabs started the quest for their homeland as a nation without a state but continuous failures and 22 sovereign countries later arabs have become states without a nation i've been your host shirwan from caspian report if you approve of this video please leave a like comment and subscribe thank you for watching and saw [Music] you

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Keywords: Africa, Basotho, Dams, Economy, Geography, Geopolitics, History, Hydropower, Johannesburg, Katse, Lesotho, Maseru, Mashai, Matsoku, Minerals, Mohale, Muela, Ntoahae, Orange River Basin, Polihali, Pretoria, Resources, Rivers, Senqunyane, South Africa, Tunnels, Water, Wealth

Id: w180Ysr1GZ0

Length: 16min 46sec (1006 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 17 2022