What is it about?
The Arab Civil wars are not new, but date back to previous decades when some Arab countries saw a state of internal instability. Armed conflicts were, in most cases, encouraged by regional or international parties to escalate crises into civil wars between conflicting internal parties. They were used as tools of violence to achieve political or ideological purposes, like inflaming sectarian and ethnic divisions; stirring up chaos; founding weak entities which depend on foreign aid; and employing some armed groups as arms for new political powers rising from such struggles. The stage that followed the Arab uprisings– or what is called the Arab Spring– saw the persistence and sizable escalation of the civil wars phenomenon in ethnic, sectarian and tribal forms, as is the case in Iraq and then Syria, Libya and Yemen. On the other hand, violence and terror are striking other Arab countries now and then, as is the case in Egypt, Tunisia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. In addition, elite and public calls are being launched to re-organize states on federal or autonomy bases, in light of the decline in the assumed democratic shifts due to internal dilemmas as well as regional and international interventions in Arab internal affairs
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Why is it important?
The study aims at exploring the concept of civil war as an objective introduction, the conditions leading to civil wars, the impacts on the Arab countries after 2011 and the repercussions on the future of Arab national states. The hypothesis is that civil and sectarian conflicts result in a state of division to conflicting local entities, affecting the present and future of national states and widening the gap between social and religious components. Today, the Arabs have one choice of establishing a new order away from the approaches of force, violence and political sectarianism. A social contract between the state and society is needed to rebuild the Arab political culture, in terms of constitutional legitimacy, political participation, real understanding of the peaceful circulation of power and democratic tools springing from Arab traditions – but not necessarily from the Western model. The above shall maintain the Arab national state and resist the attempts to fragment the Arab World. In a bid to get rid of civil wars and internal conflicts, the only way could be the foundation of a social, political contract regulating the relations between all the social, religious and educated segments. A new political culture shall prevail, based on peace – rather than violence – respect of the Other, social diversity, abandonment of hatred and marginalization and creation of broad political participation. The latter would definitely provide a relevant ground to construct the state's institutions, spread social peace and build economy on the genuine foundations of development.
Perspectives
It is necessary to consider objectively all the problems suffered by the Arabs after 2011 with the participation of the authority and the political, social and intellectual elites in order to draw lessons and lessons, and try to overcome failures and problems, and work with a real national sense of inclusive and non-divisive does not exclude anyone from the categories of Arab society to establish a pluralistic democratic system and one strong, unified and stable national state that embraces all spectrums and components under its umbrella, and the language of national reconciliation prevails and contribute with everyone in turning the page of the past and raising the slogan of the homeland for all, the state and the law Above all. The awareness of the necessity and importance of the national state has increased in recent years, as an example of respect for the army and the judiciary by Arab public opinion in a number of Arab countries, and it seemed that the collective feeling of the loss or absence of the national state and the state of political, security and economic vacuum revives chaos and insecurity, and re-awareness of the importance of the state and the distinction between the state and the political system, which is crystallizing in Arab countries. The state of security and stability witnessed by some countries, including the Gulf, for example, does not confirm in the long run escape from popular demands or protests and calls for reform, as happened in (the Sultanate of Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia), as some observers believe that the early response to these calls is sufficient for any political or social congestion and maintain societal stability and stay away from chaos or internal violence and bypass external schemes in division or dismantling, and realize an important fact that the delay of the national reform project in Any Arab country will have rising costs much more than early reform, and that voluntary reform by the will of power is better and more effective than reform imposed by force by popular pressure or even external intervention, and that accepting any system to start reform with firm conviction gives immunity, strength and confidence to the system and enhances its legitimacy and future.
Mufeed alzaidi
University of Baghdad
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: الحروب الأهلية العربية و مستقبل الدولة الوطنية, مجلة دراسات شرق أوسطية, July 2016, Middle East Studies Center (MESC),
DOI: 10.12816/0030692.
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