Rights statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Aldoughli, R. (2022). What is Syrian nationalism? Primordialism and romanticism in official Baath discourse. Nations and Nationalism, 28( 1), 125– 140. https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12786 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
Accepted author manuscript, 460 KB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - What is Syrian nationalism?
T2 - Primordialism and romanticism in official Baath discourse
AU - Aldoughli, Rahaf Bara'a
N1 - This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Aldoughli, R. (2022). What is Syrian nationalism? Primordialism and romanticism in official Baath discourse. Nations and Nationalism, 28( 1), 125– 140. https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12786 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
PY - 2022/1/30
Y1 - 2022/1/30
N2 - This article addresses the evolution of Syrian nationalism, showing how the early pan-Arabist ideals of the Baathist founders morphed into a cult of personality focused narrowly on emotional attachments to the regime. Current Syrian state nationalism is a “constructed primordialism” consisting of vague and sentimental concepts of the Syrian people and their history, despite the fact that the Syrian state in its current territorial identity has only existed for a few decades and incorporates a diverse mosaic of ethnic, cultural, religious, and national backgrounds. In the absence of a cohesive pre-existing community to form the basis of Syrian national identity, the regime tempered its nominal commitment to Arabism with heavily Romanticized rhetoric emphasizing familial bonds of love and devotion between the people and the leader. This primordialist construct has thwarted the emergence of a civic-oriented national identity in Syria and contributed to tensions underlying the current civil war.
AB - This article addresses the evolution of Syrian nationalism, showing how the early pan-Arabist ideals of the Baathist founders morphed into a cult of personality focused narrowly on emotional attachments to the regime. Current Syrian state nationalism is a “constructed primordialism” consisting of vague and sentimental concepts of the Syrian people and their history, despite the fact that the Syrian state in its current territorial identity has only existed for a few decades and incorporates a diverse mosaic of ethnic, cultural, religious, and national backgrounds. In the absence of a cohesive pre-existing community to form the basis of Syrian national identity, the regime tempered its nominal commitment to Arabism with heavily Romanticized rhetoric emphasizing familial bonds of love and devotion between the people and the leader. This primordialist construct has thwarted the emergence of a civic-oriented national identity in Syria and contributed to tensions underlying the current civil war.
KW - Baath
KW - Belonging
KW - primordialism
KW - Regime discourse
KW - Syria
U2 - 10.1111/nana.12786
DO - 10.1111/nana.12786
M3 - Journal article
VL - 28
SP - 125
EP - 140
JO - Nations and Nationalism
JF - Nations and Nationalism
SN - 1354-5078
IS - 1
ER -