Mon Dec 16 10:08:37 UTC 2024: ## Baath Party’s Collapse Marks End of Era of Arab Nationalism

**BEIRUT** – The Arab Socialist Baath Party, once a dominant force in Syria and Iraq, has effectively ceased to exist following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, analysts say. The party, founded in 1947 with the ambitious goal of uniting Arab nationalism and socialist ideals, has been relegated to the history books after decades of authoritarian rule.

The party’s Syrian branch suspended operations last week, mirroring the fate of its Iraqi counterpart, banned 20 years ago. Experts like Nikolaos van Dam, author of *The Struggle for Power in Syria*, believe the party has no realistic chance of a comeback. He attributes the decline to the waning appeal of secular Arab nationalism and the rise of state nationalism.

Sami Moubayed, a Damascus-based historian, criticized the Baath’s failure to live up to its promises of “Unity, Freedom, and Socialism.” He highlighted the party’s disastrous nationalization policies and its role in minority rule, with Sunni Muslims governing a Shia majority in Iraq and Alawites ruling over Syria’s Sunni majority under the Assad family.

Both the Syrian and Iraqi branches of the party, under the leadership of the Assad and Hussein families respectively, devolved into brutal authoritarian regimes. Their rule was marked by military defeats – including Syria’s losses to Israel in 1967 and 1973, and Iraq’s disastrous war with Iran and subsequent invasion of Kuwait. The Iraqi branch ultimately collapsed under the US-led invasion in 2003.

Despite their shared ideology, the Syrian and Iraqi Baath parties were fierce rivals, reflecting deeper sectarian divides. Syria, under Hafez al-Assad, even supported Iran during its war with Iraq. However, both regimes employed similar methods of repression against their opponents, with the party ultimately becoming subservient to its respective president.

While the Baath Party’s demise seems assured, Moubayed suggests that the ideals of Arab nationalism might yet see a resurgence, albeit from a different source than the now defunct Baath party.

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