State formation in the Mashrek region : Historical narratives of state-building and national history since the Sykes-Picot Agreement

Abstract

This article aims at exploring the simultaneous state-building and nationbuilding process in the Arab Mashrek region after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. Historical narratives profoundly changed at the time of the emergence of the modern nation-state system, which was alien in a region where the premier element of ideology was religion. The nineteenthcentury Nahda introduced a vibrant intellectual life to the region and marked the beginning of the so-called liberal era. Whereas in the first half of the twentieth century the region witnessed the birth of modern professional historiography, which (particularly in the case of Egypt) led to scientific enquiry based on national archives, the second half would see the radical phase of Arab nationalism produce a rather different historical narrative along socialist lines. However, the War of 1967, known also as the Setback (an-Naksah), challenged pan-Arabism, and regimes discouraged professional history writing about the conflict.