The demonisation of pan-Arab nationalism

Although the denigration and misrepresentation of pan-Arab nationalism existed long before recent attempts to portray Saddam Hussein’s regime as exceptionally heinous, threatening and a major source of terrorism, the demonisation of this profoundly important and evolving political force has been given further impetus by the imperative to justify current US Middle Eastern policy. The fallacies that inform reductionist and hostile approaches to pan-Arabism, including the assumption that it is inherently racist and totalitarian, are here dissected and contextualised, and the evolution of pan-Arab nationalist thought is illuminated in the process.