THE LEAGUE OF ARAB STATES

Rijul AsriAP Comparative Government and Politics

THE ARAB LEAGUE (LAS) Voluntary association among Arab

nationsArab – person who speaks ArabicMuslim – practitioner of Islam

MAJOR INSTITUTIONS: THE COUNCIL Highest body of LAS Consists of representatives from each

member stateEach state gets one vote, regardless of size

Council decisions binding only for states that voted for them Important for maintenance of sovereignty

MAJOR INSTITUTIONS: THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT Administrative and executive branches

Deals with daily functions of LAS Headed by the Secretary General

Elected by the council every 5 years

FORMER SECRETARIES

GENERAL

ABDUL RAHMAN AZZAM (1945 – 1952)

ABDUL KHALEK HASSOUNA (1952 – 1972)

MAHMOUD RIAD (1972 – 1979)

CHEDLI KLIBI (1979 – 1990)

AHMED ASMAT ABDEL-MEGUID(1991 – 2001)

AMR MOUSSA(2001 – 2011)

NABIL EL-ARABI(2011 – PRESENT)

HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE OF ARAB

STATES

CONCEPTION 8 May 1942 – Arab Unity Consultations

PhaseEgypt, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria,

Lebanon, Yemen 7 October 1944 – Alexandria Protocol

Precursor to LAS Charter

FORMATION 22 March 1945 Charter signed in Cairo

Cairo acted as headquarters until 1979Headquarters, 1979 – 1990 – Tunis, Tunisia

Original 6 members:EgyptLebanon Iraq JordanSyriaSaudi Arabia

IMPORTANT DOCUMENT: THE LAS CHARTER Most important document of

organization 20 Articles

Article 1 – Limits membership to Arab statesEnumerates/organizes purposes of LASDefines major bodies

3 AnnexesAnnex 1 – Defines Palestine as its own state

SIGNIFICANT HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS AND POLICY 1954 –The Arab Citizen 1957 – Agreement on Economic Unity

among Member States 1960 – Agreement on the Coordination

of Oil Policy 1970 – Arab League Educational,

Cultural, and Scientific Organization

SIGNIFICANT HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS AND POLICY 1979 – Egypt signed a peace treaty with

IsraelSuspended from LASHeadquarters moved to Tunis

1994 – Arab Charter for Human Rights 2005 – L’Institut Superieure Arabe de

Traduction (ISAT)

“ONE LANGUAGE, ONE CIVILIZATION: 22

ARAB COUNTRIES”

PURPOSES To forge/strengthen member-member

relations To guard sovereignty of members To represent interests of members To further interests of Arab World as a

wholePan-Arabism – concept of unity among the

entire Arab World

MEMBERSHIP

MEMBER STATES

ADVANTAGES OF MEMBERSHIP Council decisions are non-binding

Maintains state sovereignty Intra-organization trade

Agreement of Economic Unity among Member States

Modernization of technologyALECSO

General Social HealthALECSO

“The Arab Citizen”

DISADVANTAGES OF MEMBERSHIP Universal standards

Impinges upon state sovereignty International trade

Agreement on the Coordination of Oil Policy Power of Egypt Pan-Arabism v. Nationalism

INTERNATIONAL IMPACT

IRAN Majority ethnicity – Persian Sources of conflict:

OilReligion

Sunni, Wahhabism v. Shi’iteNuclear Policy

ISRAEL Conflicts:

1945 – LAS boycott of Jewish businesses1948 – Arab-Israeli War1967 – Six Days WarLAS boycott of Israel1979 – Camp David Accords between Egypt

and Israel Palestine – member of LAS

FIN.Questions, Comments, Concerns?

WORKS CITED http://www.museumwnf.org/league-of-a

rab-states/?page=LAS-history.php http://english.cctv.com/program/newsh

our/20091107/101314.shtml http://arab.de/arabinfo/league.htm http://unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,LAS,,

,3ae6b3ab18,0.html/ http://www.atlantic-community.org/inde

x/articles/view/Iran_and_the_Arab_States%3A_A_Delicate_Balance_of_Power

http://geography.about.com/od/middleeastmaps/a/The-Arab-League.htm

http://www.arableagueonline.org/wps/portal/las_en/home_page/!ut/p/c5/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gXy8CgMJMgYwOLYFdLA08jF09_X28jIwN_E6B8JG55C3MCuoNT8_TDQXbiNwMkb4ADOBro-3nk56bqF-RGVHjqOioCAKQoUKM!/dl3/d3/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2173rank.html