League of Arab States and Non-Aligned Movement Critiqued
This paper critiques two major international organizations: the League of Arab States and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). It examines the Arab League's founding objectives, its structural and ideological failures, and the growing irrelevance it faces in light of the Abraham Accords and rising Sunni-Shia divisions. The paper then turns to NAM, tracing its Cold War origins and assessing its prospects in a world increasingly polarized by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Chinese expansionism, and competing great-power interests. Drawing on realist, liberal internationalist, and constructivist frameworks, the paper argues that both organizations face existential challenges that demand serious institutional reform or risk continued marginalization.
- Introduction to the League of Arab States: Founding, objectives, and member states of the Arab League
- Failures and Declining Relevance of the Arab League: Why the League has failed to achieve its stated goals
- The Abraham Accords and Arab-Israeli Relations: How the Abraham Accords disrupted Arab League cohesion
- Internal Divisions and Structural Weaknesses: Sunni-Shia splits, democratic deficits, and redundant institutions
- Origins and Purpose of the Non-Aligned Movement: NAM's Cold War founding and Global South identity
- NAM in a New Cold War Era: NAM's relevance and pressures from Russia-Ukraine conflict
- Conclusion: Realism and the Future of Both Organizations: Realist framework applied to NAM and Arab League futures
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper applies multiple international relations frameworks — realism, liberal internationalism, and constructivism — to evaluate both organizations, giving the analysis theoretical grounding rather than relying solely on descriptive criticism.
- It uses concrete historical events (the "Three No's," the Abraham Accords, the Arab Spring, the Russia-Ukraine conflict) as evidence, anchoring abstract claims about organizational relevance in verifiable facts.
- The two-part structure creates a clear comparative framework, allowing the reader to draw parallels between the Arab League's internal fragmentation and NAM's ideological drift.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of direct quotation combined with critical commentary. Rather than simply citing sources to support assertions, the writer quotes scholars and primary sources (such as Castro's 1979 speech and the Pact of the League of Arab States) and then interrogates those quotes against current geopolitical realities, showing the gap between organizational ideals and actual performance.
Structure breakdown
The paper is divided into two clearly labeled sections. The first critiques the League of Arab States, moving from founding objectives to historical context, the Abraham Accords disruption, Sunni-Shia divisions, and structural redundancy. The second critiques NAM, tracing its Cold War role, its post-Cold War drift toward liberal internationalism, and the pressure now exerted by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. A brief concluding passage synthesizes both critiques under a realist lens. Each section balances historical narrative with theoretical analysis.
Introduction to the League of Arab States
The League of Arab States was created in 1945 with six founding members: Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon. Yemen joined shortly thereafter, and today there are 22 members of the League, excluding Syria, which was suspended in 2011 following accusations that Assad was using chemical weapons against his own population. The objective of the League was to "draw closer the relations between member states and co-ordinate collaboration between them, to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, and to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries" (Pact of the League of Arab States, 1945). The League gave particular focus to: (a) economic and financial matters, including trade, customs, currency, agriculture, and industry; (b) communications, including railways, roads, aviation, navigation, and posts and telegraphs; (c) cultural matters; (d) matters connected with nationality, passports, visas, execution of judgments, and extradition; (e) social welfare matters; and (f) health matters (Pact of the League of Arab States, 1945). Notably absent from the League is Iran.
The role of the League is to coordinate policy, strengthen ties, and promote common interests of the member states (Rai, 2019). This is an important role in the Middle East, since World War II left the world in need of a new order of relations. The League helped bring the Arab world into a framework of social, political, and economic unity — at least, that was the main idea. While it is true that the League does help to settle disputes and bring resolutions to conflicts among member states, it has not effectively achieved any of its goals related to its role in the Middle East. Instead, individual states like the UAE have taken it upon themselves to show leadership and set a new path forward for other states to follow. The best example of this is the signing of the Abraham Accords. The UAE led the way forward and other states, like Bahrain, followed its example — but this was not a resolution or treaty put forward by the League of Arab States. On the contrary, the League's relevance in the face of the UAE's actions has been questioned more and more (Rai, 2019).
The League of Arab States is incredibly rich in oil and gas, and many of the member states are pushing forward with modern telecommunications systems to support economic and social growth. Some of the region is fertile — southern Sudan, for example, is often considered the food basket of the Arab world. However, there is also considerable instability in these regions due to the threat of terrorism and radical groups that seek to overthrow established governments, as has been the case with Al-Shabaab in Somalia (Center for International Security and Cooperation, 2019). Nonetheless, tourism is viewed as a very important industry in some of these regions, and this has especially been an area of interest for the UAE in the wake of the Abraham Accords signed with Israel and other Arab states (Scheindlin, 2022).
Failures and Declining Relevance of the Arab League
The Abraham Accords represent a new turning point for the Arab League — especially given that in 1967 the League signed the "Three No's," indicating that Arab countries would never have peace with Israel, would never negotiate with Israel, and would never recognize Israel (Smith, 2021). Seeing as how the Arab League was formed for the purpose of collaborating and coordinating policy, the apparent break with the Arab world by the UAE in signing the Abraham Accords represents a potential conflict brewing within the League.
As Rai (2019) notes, "the Arab League today represents little more than a fake talking shop where Arab leaders engage in brief meetings whilst exchanging empty pleasantries, before going back and pursuing their vested interests." The main problem with the Arab League today is that the "common interests" the League is supposed to pursue are not so common anymore. Rai (2019) further points out that the League has not effectively achieved any of its stated objectives in its decades of existence: it has not strengthened ties among member states, it has not coordinated significant policy, and it has not promoted a common ideal or interest that benefits all member states. Part of the problem is that the member states are very diverse in terms of population, demographics, belief systems, politics, and economy. Not all are as oil-rich as the UAE, nor are all as politically powerful as Saudi Arabia. There is a great deal of difference between Jordan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, just as there is between Egypt and Somalia.
References
Butler, S. et al. (2022). Russia: Who is on the sanctions list. The Guardian.
Castro, F. (1979). Castro speech. Accessed at https://web.archive.org/web/20110611014358/http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1979/19791012
Center for International Security and Cooperation. (2019). Al Shabaab. Retrieved from https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/mappingmilitants/profiles/al-shabaab
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Pact of the League of Arab States. (1945). Accessed at https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/arableag.asp
Rai, M. (2019). Is the Arab League still relevant? Times of Israel.
Scheindlin, D. (2022). How to salvage progressive policies from the Abraham Accords. The Century Foundation.
Smith, C. (2021). Abraham Accords show that Israel victory enhances Arab lives. Middle East Forum.
World Bank. (2018). Belt and Road Initiative. Accessed at https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/regional-integration/brief/belt-and-road-initiative
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