The language of Arab nationalism and Arab foreign policy: The relations of Egypt, Libya and Syria, 1969-1981

Academic explanations of the foreign policy behavior of states favor either material resources and capabilities, or else the cognitive and ideological dimension of foreign policy. Until the mid-70's, when a new assessment of inter-Arab politics emerged, explanations of Arab foreign policy tended to emphasize the ideological factor of Arab nationalism. Proclaiming the death of pan-Arabism after the 1973 war, many argued that a distinctly pragmatic element had entered Arab foreign policy creating a new system of Arab interaction that was influenced by materialist concerns rather than ideology. The task of this dissertation has been to examine the role of the ideology of Arab nationalism in Arab foreign policy by studying the relations of Egypt, Libya and Syria from 1969 to 1981.;The role of Arab nationalism in the relations of Egypt, Libya and Syria is studied by outlining the factors affecting the foreign policy of each state to determine when ideology is significant and when it is over-shadowed by other non-ideological factors. The most significant contribution of this research project is that ideology is measured by analyzing the political language of the foreign policy elite and the government controlled press. Chapter 1 outlines the external and domestic factors of Arab foreign policy. Chapter 2 reviews the history of Arab nationalism and defines the way it has entered the political language of Arab foreign policy. Chapters 3-6 review the history of the interaction of the three states from 1969 to 1981 leading to the conclusion that while ideology was dominant in the relations of the three states from 1969 to 1971 when the political leadership was concerned primarily with domestic legitimacy, factors of regional influence and power, international alliances, resources and capabilities quickly came to the fore. From 1972 to 1981, during times of domestic confidence and regional stability, the language of Arab nationalism played a negligible role in the interaction of the three states, but during times of domestic instability and regional conflict ideology dominated the inter-Arab foreign policy of the three states.