National Identity

Last updated on: April 25, 2018 at 1:18 pm by Dan Peterson

National Identity 2018-04-25T13:18:58-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A political map of Jordan. I’m currently writing from the southern part of the country, to the west of Ma’an. (Wikimedia Commons)

Every day, a little bit more.

The institutional details of government were often imposed from the outside as well. Political parties and national anthems, cabinets, parliaments, and constitutions—all of these are foreign notions of which, for the most part, the form but not the substance has taken root in the Middle East. Today, many of these institutions are a charade. The parliamentarians are playacting, their only real function being to rubber-stamp the decisions of a dictator. (The most extreme illustration of this was the astonishing Colonel Qaddafi of Libya, who always insisted with a straight face that he held absolutely no office in the government of his country, which, he said, was actually run by direct democracy.)

Perhaps the most effective way to give an overview of the Arab world today is to survey a few selected Arab states, to investigate specific cases.

Egypt

Having said that many Arab and Near Eastern states are artificial creations with no roots in reality, I commence my survey with the most obvious counterexample. Egypt is a notable exception to the general truth that the nations of the contemporary Middle East were invented with map and pencil. Egypt has existed in much its present area since the earliest days of human history. This is so because it has an obvious natural shape. It is actually far smaller than it appears on maps because its population is crowded along the banks of the Nile River. Other than a few oases, the rest of the country is essentially uninhabitable sandy desert, which has always served to protect Egypt from the ambitions of those around her.

The Egyptian identity is fairly secure. When Anwar Sadat and his countrymen were kicked out of many Arab organizations after his peace agreement with Israel, they immediately began to note that their ancestors had been building pyramids while the ancestors of “the Arabs” were eating lizards. They didn’t care, they said, if “the Arabs” didn’t like them. They were not “Arabs,” they were Egyptians! This ability to fall back on a well-established older national identity has spared them some of the problems that today afflict a number of other, less psychologically fortunate Arab states.

It has not, however, spared them a difficult history. As I have pointed out already, from the fall of the pharaonic state just after Lehi’s day until very recent times, Egypt was ruled by foreigners. The 1952 army coup that eventually put Gamal Abdel Nasser in power brought an end to rule by non-Egyptians but did little or nothing to end the nation’s problems, which included poverty and a rapidly rising population. Instead of dealing with those problems, Nasser chose to focus on the fight against Israel, combating Western influence (which made him an ally of the Soviet Union), and building a socialist state (with what results I have already stated).

Posted from Wadi Moussa, Jordan

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 25, 2018

Petra, again

Next Post

April 26, 2018 A spectacular failure

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What sacred tent did God command the Israelites to build?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Tabernacle Temple Booth House of David