Challenges to the Cohesion of the Arab StateAsher Susser The system by which the Middle East is divided into separate states is not self-evident. It is largely an artificial, colonial construct that emulates the European state order, whereby territories with defined borders, contain predominately homogeneous peoples, comprised of inhabitants sharing a common language, such as the French in France, or the Germans in Germany. In practice, none of the states in the Arab Middle East fits this bill. In recent years, especially after the US invasion of Iraq, a pervasive sense of uncertainty has gripped the capitals of the Middle East in regard to the continued stability of the region s state order. The crushing of Iraq has sent shockwaves throughout the Arab East. The relative weakness of the Arab state system, the spread of radical Islam, and the reassertion of primordial sub-state identities threaten to undermine the cohesion of some key Arab states. How are they coping with these challenges? To what extent are their efforts succeeding? These are the crucial questions that this compendium seeks to examine. |
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al-Asad al-Fatah Algeria Arab and Islamic Arab world Ba'th Bashar Bashar al-Asad Berber cohesion conflict country's cultural Darfur discourse economic Egypt Egyptian elections elite entity establishment ethnic family and tribe Filastin Filastin al-Muslima forces framework Gaza Strip globalization groups Hafiz al-Asad Hamas Hamas's Hashemite Hebrew Hijazi historical Hizballah hudna Husayn ideological independence infitah institutions integration internal intifada Iran Iraq Iraqi Islamic Islamic identity Islamic movements Islamists Israel Jerusalem jihad Jordan Jordanian King Kurdish Kurds land leaders leadership Lebanon legitimacy liberation loyalty Middle East military modern monarchy Moroccan Morocco Muhammad Muslim Brotherhood narrative national identity nationalist organizations Ottoman Palestine Palestinian identity Palestinian national Palestinian society pan-Arab parties political population primordial regime regime's region religious revolutionary rule Sa'ud family Saudi Arabia Shi'i social solidarity state's status struggle Sudan Sudanese Sunni Arab Syria Tel-Aviv territorial traditional tribal unity University Press West Bank