Question 1
Evaluate the interpretations in both of the two passages and explain which you think is more
convincing as an explanation of Nasserism and Pan Arabism.
Passage A Adapted from P Mansfield 'A History of the Middle East', pp291-2, pp296-7, Little Brown Books, 2013. Item removed due to third party copyright restrictions.
* Saladin – a medieval Sultan of Egypt and Syria who defeated European crusaders and sought to unite Arabs.
Adapted from: P. Mansfield, A History of the Middle East, published in 2013.
Passage B
Nasser’s remarkable string of successes propelled him to a position of dominance in the Arab world. His anti-imperial credentials and calls for Arab solidarity made him the champion of Arab nationalists across the region. Nasser took his message to the Arab masses across the airwaves, as the power of long-distance radio broadcasting combined with the spread of affordable and portable transistor radios in the course of the 1950s. In an age of widespread adult illiteracy, Nasser was able to reach a vastly broader audience via radio than he ever could have through newspapers. The Cairo-based radio service Voice of the Arabs connected Arabic speakers across national boundaries through a common language and promoted the ideas of Pan Arab action and Arab nationalism. Listeners from across the Arab world were electrified. Nasser conquered the Arab world by radio. Through the Voice of the Arabs, he was able to pressure other Arab rulers to follow his direction, bypassing the heads of Arab governments to address their citizens directly. Some Arab nationalists began to take Nasser’s calls for Arab unity more literally than the Egyptian President intended, nowhere more so than in Syria.
Adapted from: E. Rogan, The Arabs: A History, published in 2018.
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Answer
