UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC (UAR)

After the Suez Crisis and Egypt's successful defiance of the imperial West, Egypt's prestige and that of its leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, were extremely high in the Arab world. In Syria, which was weak, politically unstable, and vulnerable to outside threats from the West and particularly from the subversive actions of conservative and royalist Iraq, whose own stability was threatened by the existence of left-leaning Arab governments. The idea of a federation between the two countries appealed to many, particularly the socialist, pan-Arabist Ba?th Party, which was the country's largest party; other elements favored it as a way to prevent leftists, such as the left wing of the Ba?th, from getting into power. The Syrian National Assembly called for union with the larger, more populous and more powerful Egypt; Nasser eventually agreed, but only on strict conditions. As a result, the United Arab Republic was proclaimed on 1 February 1958 and confirmed in a referendum on 21 February. It was structured as a unified state, not a federation; its capital was Cairo; its leader was Nasser; and it had a one-party political system. The military was unified under Egyptian command, with Syrian officers in subordinate positions, and banks, major industries, and large landholdings were nationalized. In 1960 the National Assembly was dissolved and replaced with a new, appointive body.

In March 1958, Nasser also formed a union between Egypt and Yemen, called the United Arab States. The same month the UAR was formed, as a conservative counterweight, King Hussein of Jordan and his cousin King Faysal II of Iraq announced a federation of their kingdoms, the Arab Union. It failed five months later when the Iraqi monarchy was overthrown and Faysal was assassinated. After the revolution in Iraq, Nasser held discussions with the new regime about joining the UAR, but nothing came of them. The American decision to send troops to Lebanon during the 1958 civil war there was, in part, a response to these developments.

Nasser's structural changes and policy measures alienated politically important elements of the Syrian population: the landholders, the middle class, the politicians, and the officer corps. Later changes to state structures, such as abolition of local autonomy and the planned unification of currencies, furthered centralized control, and government policies were based primarily on Egyptian conditions. Dissatisfaction and resentment grew—there was a feeling that, rather than union, the UAR was more like an Egyptian occupation—and there was growing talk of secession. In September 1961 Syrian army officers staged a coup d'état in Damascus, and Nasser decided not to fight it. On 28 September Syria withdrew from the UAR. In December Nasser ended the union with Yemen, which had had no more success than the Syrian experiment. Egypt continued to use the name United Arab Republic until 1971, after Nasser's death.

SEE ALSO Hussein ibn Talal;Nasser, Gamal Abdel;Suez Crisis.