The impact of ideology upon Arab unity

Abstract

Arab unity is a term used differently by scholars, politicians and laymen alike. While it means, for President Nasser, the act of unification in federal or unitary states, it might be argued that it means also the adaptation of a unified position towards Arab and non-Arab issues. A unified Arab position exists when a cohesive view is exhibited regarding Arab and non-Arab issues. Accordingly, three key questions are raised by this study: Is Arab Unity still considered in the new millennium a salient case for Arab leaders and scholars? Does the issue of unified Arab foreign policy represent an aspect of Arab unity? And what are the most influential factors that affect the process of Arab unity in the new millennium? Although review of the literature reveals that several factors are identified by politicians and scholars as influential elements upon Arab unity, this study assumes that a continuing Arab ideological division is expected to affect negatively the Arab unity process in the new millennium. The results of this study, by and large, support the assumptions underlying the Arab World split into moderate-conservative and revolutionary sub-groups.

Keywords: Arab sub-groups, Arab unity, conservative, loading, moderate, revolutionary.Democracy, globalization, democracy, mass media, Egypt.