2021 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 3(1) political and military support against the Ottomans. 80 But after defeating the Ottomans, colonial powers did not keep their promise and crushed all political inspirations for Arab unity. 81 Native populations were divided into artificial nation-states in order to contain nationalism and anti-colonial movements. 82 After decolonisation, nationalists called for a reunification of all Arab states to overcome the divisions enacted during colonial rule. In this context, Pan-Arabism rose as a significantly strong and credible anti-colonial ideal. This project, also referred to as ‘Arab nationalism’, can be defined as a transnational and secular movement that advocates for the reunification of all Arab territories. 83 Although the origins of this movement can be traced back to the Ottoman Empire, 84 it emerged as a massive and popular ideology after World War I, both as an attempt to resist colonial rule and the creation of artificial borders by European powers. Arab nationalists advocate for the creation of a united Arab state, drawing on the historical example of the 12th century Arab Empire. 85 Pan-Arabism was formalised in different political projects, 86 such as Nasserism in Egypt and Baathism in Iraq and Syria. 87 Egypt and Syria managed to achieve this inspiration for Arab unity through the creation of a unified sovereign Arab state in 1946, called the United Arab Republic (‘UAR’). 88 Yemen later signed a pact with the UAR in 1948 to be connected with a federation called the ‘United Arab States’ but without fully joining the union. 89 During this period, all Syrians were considered nationals of the UAR. 90 However, this union collapsed few years after, in 1961, following a coup d’état in Damascus. 91 Although the creation of a unified Arab nation has not succeeded, Pan-Arabism has been translated in other forms of expressions, including intergovernmental cooperation between sovereign states. The most successful example of this expression is the League of Arab States (‘LAS’), 92 a regional organisation framed around a common Arab identity and affinity. Within the past few decades, the definition of Pan-Arabism evolved, and is now broadly understood as ‘an idea and a movement that recognises the close affinity shared by the Arab people and attempts to give that affinity some 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 Trevor J Le Gassick, ‘Studies in Contemporary Arab Nationalist Literature’ (DPhil thesis, SOAS University 2015) 6. Ernest C Dawn, ‘From Ottomanism to Arabism: The Origin of an Ideology’ (1961) 23(3) Review of Politics 378; Zeine N Zeine, Arab-Turkish Relations and the Emergence of Arab Nationalism (Khayat’s, 1958) 58. See also Rashid Khalidi et al (eds), The Origins of Arab Nationalism (Columbia University Press 1991). Gassick (n 80) 4–5; Reem Abou‐El‐Fadi, ‘Early Pan‐Arabism in Egypt’s July Revolution: The Free Officers Political Formation and Policy‐Making, 1946–54’ (DPhil thesis, SOAS University 2015) 289. Barry Rubin, ‘Pan-Arab Nationalism: The Ideological Dream as Compelling Force’ (1991) 26(3) Journal of Contemporary History 535. Zeine (n 81) 58; Khalidi et al (n 81). Gassick (n 80) 6. Thompson, Colonial Citizens (n 10) 41. Raymond A Hinnebusch, ‘Syria’s Alawis and the Ba’ath Party’ in Michael Kerr and Craig Larkin (eds), The Alawis of Syria: War, Faith and Politics in the Levant (Oxford University Publishing 2015) 108. Raymond A Hinnebusch, Authoritarian Power and State Formation in Baʻthist Syria: Army, Party, and Peasant (Westview Press 1990) 110. Eugene Cotran, ‘Some Legal Aspects of the Formation of the United Arab Republic and the United Arab States’ (1959) 8(2) The International and Comparative Law Quarterly 346. Davis (n 79). Khoury, Syria and the French Mandate (n 43) 121. Also known as ‘the Arab League’. 16