The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies has published The Arab State: Origins and Trajectory, (536 pp.) by Azmi Bishara. The book is rich in content and thorough in its historical analysis. Across five parts and twelve chapters, it examines a question that has long preoccupied Arabs and continues to fuel wide debate into the twenty-first century: the nation-state in the Arab world – concept, practice, and the conditions for its success or failure.
Just a year earlier, Bishara released The Question of the State: A Treatise in Philosophy, Theory, and Contexts. With this new volume, he shifts the discussion from abstract theory to home in on the Arab experience. His aim is to contribute fresh insights and fill gaps in both theoretical reflection and scholarly research on the state and society – subjects he regards as of utmost importance, whether in shaping the lives of individuals and communities or in charting the course of socio-political development.
The idea for this book originally took shape as two chapters within The Question of the State. Bishara later decided to dedicate a separate volume to the Arab state. The result, the product of tremendous efforts, given the wealth of historical material on the emergence of the Arab state and the challenge of bringing theoretical coherence to such a vast subject.
Bishara’s earlier book, The Question of the State: Philosophy, Theory, and Context, serves as the methodological and theoretical foundation for The Arab State. This book engages with a critical survey of theories of the state, the historical contexts in which states emerge, and the distinction between theories, philosophies, and ideologies of the state.
From these explorations, Bishara advances several key arguments. He contends that the modern state arose through the differentiation of the political sphere in its broadest sense and its subordination of other spheres, including the religious. The centralization of coercive power, the institutionalization of taxation, and the drawing of boundaries shaped by wars and historical processes all converged to produce the modern state in Europe. Once this state had crystallized into a ready-made model, however, other societies no longer underwent the same gradual formation. Instead, the external imposition of the model often generated conflict as well as cultural and political inequalities.
For Bishara, the defining features of the modern state lie in its capacity to separate the institution of governance from the individuals who occupy it, and the political regime from the state itself. Whereas earlier forms of rule simply divided rulers from the ruled, the modern state is built upon what is shared between them. In the Arab context, states are no longer born of tribal solidarities seizing power but from attempts to replicate the modern model – though often distorted, as regimes sometimes deliberately revive older solidarities to reinforce their authority.
Sovereignty, too, has been redefined. In the modern state it no longer means the ruler’s supreme authority, but rather the common space between the ruler and the ruled, expressed in its most advanced form in citizenship. Citizenship transforms subjects into a nation of citizens and distinguishes itself from narrower ethnic or kinship ties. Alongside citizenship, territorial sovereignty, a professional bureaucracy, and the monopoly of legitimate violence form the pillars of the modern state. Yet Bishara warns that the modern state cannot be reduced to a single principle, for such simplification risks ideological distortion.
Equally important is the recognition that the modern state does not rely on coercion alone. While it monopolizes legitimate violence, it also establishes non-violent institutions that regulate social life. Its sovereignty is embodied less in “supreme authority” than in the ability to legislate and enforce laws – what Bishara argues is the true meaning of sovereignty, embodied in the rule of law. Moreover, modern sovereignty is never exercised in isolation but within an international system of states that recognize and sustain one another. Within this framework, sovereignty and citizenship exist in a creative, even productive tension: citizenship, defined through rights and duties, constitutes the other face of sovereignty. Finally, Bishara insists that the gap between the ideal of the modern state and its lived reality is not a weakness but a resource, one that helps us grasp the direction of its development.
In The Arab State: A Study of Origins and Trajectory, Bishara builds on these theoretical foundations to propose several hypotheses about the Arab state and its historical trajectory. He argues that the modern state in the Arab world did not arise organically, as it had in Europe, but was instead introduced as a ready-made model through colonialism and mandate rule. This model was subsequently reshaped by local conditions, producing hybrid forms that combined modern state institutions with older patterns of power and solidarity.
According to Bishara, the Arab state’s formation cannot be understood in isolation from the colonial experience, which imposed artificial borders, subordinated local economies, and fostered ruling elites dependent on external powers. At the same time, Arab societies themselves were not passive recipients of this imported form. They adapted and transformed it, at times resisting and at other times appropriating its institutions to serve local interests. The result was a set of fragile and often contradictory state structures, whose legitimacy has been contested from their inception.
Bishara also emphasizes the tension between the universal model of the nation-state and the specific historical circumstances of Arab societies. Whereas the European state developed through centuries of social, economic, and political struggles that gradually defined citizenship, sovereignty, and the rule of law, the Arab state emerged abruptly, without the same cumulative process. This suddenness created a gap between the imported ideal and the lived reality, a gap that continues to shape the fate of Arab states today.
The opening part of the book lays out the theoretical frameworks necessary for studying the Arab state. Bishara situates his inquiry within broader debates on the origins and development of the modern state, carefully distinguishing between the European experience and the trajectories of states elsewhere. He examines how the state came to be theorized in political philosophy, how it emerged historically in particular social and economic contexts, and how it was later transplanted into non-European settings.
This discussion highlights the central role of colonialism in shaping state formation beyond Europe. Bishara underscores that what appeared to be the universal model of the modern state was in fact deeply rooted in the European historical experience, marked by wars, taxation, centralized coercion, and the institutional separation of the ruler and the ruled. When this model was exported, it did not reproduce itself identically but rather it interacted with existing structures of authority and solidarity, generating unique patterns of adaptation, resistance, and distortion.
By clarifying these distinctions, Bishara provides the conceptual tools needed to analyse Arab states not as failed or incomplete replicas of the European model, but as political formations with their own historical logic. This perspective allows for a more nuanced understanding of the tensions between imported institutions and indigenous social realities – tensions that continue to shape the Arab state’s possibilities and limits.
The second part of the book traces the historical transformation from Ottoman provinces to modern Arab states. Bishara begins with the late Ottoman period, when administrative reforms, military restructuring, and new systems of taxation sought to centralize authority while still accommodating diverse local identities. These reforms produced a tension between the imperial framework and emerging currents of local nationalism, a tension that would later shape the fate of the region.
With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War, the Arab provinces were carved into states under European mandate. Bishara shows how these mandates imposed artificial borders and political institutions, disregarding historical patterns of social and economic life. The new state structures were not born of internal struggles for sovereignty but were grafted onto societies by colonial powers. This external imposition created fragile foundations, leaving questions of legitimacy unresolved from the outset.
Yet the story is not one of passive reception. Arab societies engaged with these imposed frameworks in complex ways, sometimes resisting and at other times adapting them to local conditions. The result was the emergence of states that combined the outward form of the modern nation-state with older solidarities, particularly tribal, sectarian, and regional loyalties. Bishara emphasizes that the endurance of these hybrid structures helps explain both the persistence of authoritarianism and the recurrent crises of legitimacy in the Arab world.
In the third part, Bishara turns to the concrete processes through which Arab states took shape during the twentieth century. He examines how independence movements, shaped by both anti-colonial struggle and international pressures, gave rise to new ruling elites. These elites often inherited the institutions and borders established under colonial rule but reinterpreted them to consolidate their own authority.
The formation of Arab states, Bishara argues, was marked by contradictions. On the one hand, independence brought with it aspirations for sovereignty, unity, and social transformation. On the other hand, the inherited state structures (weak bureaucracies, artificial frontiers, and economies tied to external markets) limited the scope of these ambitions. In many cases, regimes relied on narrow solidarities, whether sectarian, tribal, or regional, to maintain control, even as they adopted the rhetoric of national unity.
Bishara highlights how these dynamics produced fragile political systems, in which the gap between the formal attributes of the nation-state and the lived realities of governance remained wide. The Arab state emerged neither as the organic product of long-term social struggles, nor as a clean break from the past, but as a hybrid formation –modern in form but deeply entangled in older patterns of power and allegiance.
In the fourth part, Bishara examines the crises that have plagued Arab states since their formation. He traces how authoritarian rule, economic dependency, and the manipulation of communal solidarities steadily eroded both state legitimacy and social cohesion. Regimes often relied on coercion and patronage networks to secure their survival, while suppressing political participation and stifling the development of genuine citizenship.
The failure to establish inclusive institutions left Arab states vulnerable to recurrent shocks. Wars, military coups, and economic downturns exposed the fragility of regimes that rested more on coercion than on broad-based consent. At the same time, unresolved questions of national identity – between religious, sectarian, tribal, and civic loyalties – undermined the project of building a unified citizenry. Bishara underscores that these internal vulnerabilities were compounded by external pressures, including regional rivalries, international interventions, and the global economic order.
Taken together, these factors produced what he describes as a structural crisis of the Arab state: an inability to reconcile the formal requirements of sovereignty and citizenship with the realities of authoritarian rule and fragmented social foundations. This crisis, far from being episodic, has defined the trajectory of Arab states across much of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
The final part of the book looks ahead, asking what prospects remain for the Arab state in the twenty-first century. Bishara argues that the future depends on whether these states can move beyond authoritarian legacies and ground their legitimacy in citizenship, the rule of law, and accountable institutions. Without such a transformation, he warns, the cycle of fragility and crisis will persist.
He emphasizes that reform cannot mean a simple return to inherited models, whether colonial frameworks or authoritarian adaptations. Instead, it requires a reimagining of the state as a shared project, one that binds rulers and citizens through mutual rights and responsibilities. Such a project, Bishara suggests, would create space for pluralism while preserving the cohesion necessary for sovereignty.
Yet he remains cautious. The entrenched interests of ruling elites, the persistence of sectarian and tribal solidarities, and the weight of external interference all stand in the way of this transformation. Even so, Bishara insists that the ideal of a democratic nation-state remains both urgent and possible. The challenge for Arab societies is to close the gap between the imported form of the state and the lived realities of political life, thereby forging institutions that reflect their own historical experiences while meeting universal standards of justice and equality.
With The Arab State: Origins and Trajectory, Azmi Bishara offers one of the most comprehensive examinations of the modern Arab state to date. By combining rigorous theoretical reflection with detailed historical analysis, he demonstrates that the Arab state cannot be understood either as a failed imitation of Europe or as a mere continuation of premodern structures. Instead, it must be seen as a hybrid formation shaped by colonial imposition, local adaptations, and the enduring struggle over legitimacy.
Bishara’s central contribution lies in revealing the tension between the universal model of the nation-state and the particular conditions of Arab societies. This tension, he argues, has produced both the fragility of Arab regimes and the persistence of popular demands for freedom, citizenship, and sovereignty. His work therefore offers not only a diagnosis of past and present crises but also a framework for imagining alternative futures.
The book ultimately calls for rethinking the state as a shared civic project, one grounded in the principles of citizenship and the rule of law. In doing so, Bishara situates the Arab experience within a global conversation on the potential and the limits of the modern state, making his study essential reading for anyone concerned with the political trajectory of the Arab world.
