The role of the Arab league as a regional organization in Middle Eastern politics

Regional organizations, particularly with the rapid pace of globalization in the 1990s, became international actors. The primary reason for this is that, in addition to globalization, advancing regionalization has provided greater opportunities for regional cooperation and coordinated action among states. Regional organizations, which emerged as a result of this phenomenon, have become actors that influence international politics by empowering their member states to directly negotiate issues and collaborate on military, economic, cultural, or political issues. Organizations operating within a region have been established within a region, where states voluntarily collaborate on shared cultures, shared ideas, values, religious or ethnic identities, and economic, social, and political issues. By leveraging this capacity, the Arab League is one of the most effective strategic organizations, similar to the European Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The Arab League, a regional organization operating in the Middle East or more broadly, the Arab world, is a regional organization with roots in Arab nationalism, which began in the 18th century and rose significantly in the 19th century. The Arab League, which emerged as an important practical application of Arab nationalism, was established in Cairo on March 22, 1945, with an agreement signed by Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Since then, the Arab League has continued its activities as an active regional organization, facing many problems stemming from both the geostrategic importance of the region in which it was established and the issues between or within Arab states. The aim of this thesis is to analyze the role of the Arab League in Middle Eastern politics. The main argument of the thesis is that the Arab League, which was established with the aim of increasing the capacity of Arab states to act together and cooperate on regional economic, political, social, and military issues, has failed to pass the test in the period from its establishment to the present day. In the context of this claim, the thesis examines the Arab League's reactions to many important regional events, such as the Arab Israeli wars, the Gulf Wars, the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Lebanese Civil War, the Iran-Iraq War, and the Arab Spring, as well as the effectiveness of these reactions. Based on the detailed case studies conducted within the scope of the thesis, it has been concluded that the member states of the Arab League's preference to act in their own interests and the relationships they have established with global actors influential in the Arab region have prevented the League from becoming an effective and powerful regional organization.