The Decline of Arab Unity: The Rise and Fall of the United Arab Republic

In February 1958, Eqypt and Syria decided to unite, announcing the formation of the United Arab Republic (UAR). The union collapsed in September 1961, following a military coup in Syria. This book analyses the political and socioeconomic processes that led to the rise and fall of the UAR, as well as the ramifications of this episode on the Arab world. The analsysis is presented in the wider context of pan-Arab ideology. The formation of the union constituted both the culmination of this ideology and th beginning of its decline. With the disintegration of the UAR, The dream of an all-Arab nation in one state evaporated. Despite its short duration, the UAR episode is considered one of the major developments in the modern history of the Arab world. This is the first book in English to tell the story of this important, yet neglected, episode in Arab history. the research is based on archival material located in the US, Britain, Canada, and Israel, as well as all the available sources in Arabic. The use of these primary sources allows for a fresh look at the UAR forty years after its establishment.