Arab Nationalism
KAZEMZADEH, FIRUZ
Arab Nationalism THE ARABS AND THE WORLD By Charles D. Cremeans Praeger. 338 pp. $6.50. Reviewed by FIRUZ KAZEMZADEH Associate Professor, Department of History Yale University Voltaire...
...Rather than obscuring his vision, Cremeans' sympathy for the Arab peoples gives him many valuable insights into their political psychology...
...The discussion of the springs of Arab nationalism and of the motives of Nasser's foreign policies is indeed analytical, but the chapter on individual Arab states turns into a collection of encyclopedia-length articles of an introductory type rather out of place in an otherwise serious and high-level work...
...And while President Nasser may, as Cremeans claims, symbolize Arab nationalism, he does not lead it...
...Confusion, contradiction, and ambiguity seem to dominate the politics of the peoples who call themselves Arab...
...Charles Cremeans has not entirely avoided the first peril...
...While hoping for an eventual peaceful solution of the ArabIsraeli dispute, he does not expect it to abate in the foreseeable future...
...In view of the recent events there and in Syria, however, his treatment of the Ba'ath party seems inadequate...
...A work of topical interest, especially one which deals with international relations in a highly unstable area, can never be definitive...
...With but one exception, all are ruled by dictators of either the traditional or the modern variety...
...One can hardly blame him for his failure to foresee the fall of Kassim's regime in Iraq...
...Though the author promises to use the analytical rather than the historical approach in his book, he is forced to follow the recent history of the several Arab states and their relations both among themselves and with the outside world...
...It is almost impossible these days to produce an up-to-date book on the Middle East...
...He is uniformly fair to all sides, though perhaps a trifle too optimistic about the character of Arab nationalism...
...Without some history the situation as of last winter, or spring, or early summer, would be entirely unintelligible...
...Cremeans suggests a pragmatic approach which would take into account the multiple and changing factors of the Middle Eastern scene...
...Nor can such a policy be formulated once and for all...
...He points out that in an area where almost every state is at odds with its neighbors, the U.S., whose primary objective is the stability and independence of the region, must pursue a firm and explicit policy which would never be universally popular...
...Cremeans' realism is impressive...
...Today, with equal justice, one could say that the United Arab Republic is neither united, entirely Arab, nor hardly a republic...
...Yet, even given this stern qualification, it would be only just to say that The Arabs and the World is the best single book of its kind available to the American reader today...
...Some are still deep in the middle ages, others are uncertainly entering the 20th century...
...Somewhere between page proofs and distribution a revolution will occur, a dynasty will disappear, a war will break out, a leader will be assassinated...
...Reviewed by FIRUZ KAZEMZADEH Associate Professor, Department of History Yale University Voltaire said about the Holy Roman Empire that it was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire...
...Events march so rapidly only the daily press can keep up with them...
...The second danger—bias—has been defeated by the author's scrupulous regard for facts...
...To deal with relations between the Arab states and the world is thus a formidable and treacherous task...
...Moreover, Middle Eastern conflicts have the power to arouse passions violent enough to vitiate most of the current writing dealing with the region...
...Divided by geography, history, tradition, and self-interest, they all nevertheless proclaim their allegiance to the ideal of Arab unity...
Vol. 46 • September 1963 • No. 19
