An Analysis on Failure and Crisis-causing of Arab Nationalism and its Current Reflections on Islamic World

Arab Nationalism was a historical movement which took place in a part of Islamic world based on "Insider-outsider" theory. Arab nationalism was a reaction against internal tyranny, foreign colonization and occupation. It was an imported notion which triggered to revive all aspects of national identity of Arabs including their society, history, geography, politics, religion, cultural heritage, language and literature in order to form a united nation. The movement which gradually started in the second half of the ninetieth century, finally became the main force in Arab world after World War II. But signs of weakness and decline in this movement appeared from 1970s which brought failures and crises in Arab world; its reflections are observable in current changes. However the reasons, causes, aspects and reflections regarding the historical background and human factors of this movement has not been appropriately analyzed yet. As Arab nationalism was an imported notion, basically it could not have been a solution, then it changed to be a crisis-causing issue. By means of historical analysis, the reasons behind development and evolution of Arab nationalism, the causes and aspects of its failures, crises and its current reflections will be analyzed in the present paper. In order to achieve the purpose of this paper, the study will apply a descriptive – analytical approach. The main findings of the present paper are: inability of Arab Nationalism as an imported notion in political, social, economic and cultural aspects and causing crises. The reflections of this movement were: the return of trans-regional hegemonies, strengthening of traditional and dependent conservatives as well as Takfiri groups, and interrupting the expansion of moderation and proximity discourse of Islamists.