The "Rebirth" of a Dead Organization? Questioning the Role of the Arab League in the "Arab Uprisings" Process
Year: 2014

The League of Arab States, known as the Arab League (AL) has historically proven to be largely ineffective in its endeavors at conflict resolution within and between Arab states. The AL has had neither impact nor respect in the region. However, since 2011 it has demonstrated uncharacteristically decisive stances during political uprisings in Libya and Syria, raising hopes for it becoming a more effective regional actor. Some scholars evaluate these attempts as signalling the rebirth and reassertion of the AL, while others consider them as a facade for appeasing the protesters and international society. Many also see the AL as having continued its passive stance. This paper analyzes the involvement of the AL in political upheavals, unrests as well as civil wars that emerged along with the Arab Uprisings and asks whether the AL has played an 'effective role' or has 'functioned well' in adressing security challenges and in efforts mediating disputes in member states. In other words, whether it has acted purposively and has been able to shape outcomes in the Arab Uprisings process. Drawing from the literature on regional organizations, this article focuses on AL's main organizing principle, institutional capacity and operational experience to evaluate its performance in addressing security challenges Zeynep Sahin Mencutek is Assistant Professor at the Department of International Relations, Gediz University, Turkey. Zeynep Sahin Mencutek 84 the AL to call for international military involvement in Libya and Syria. On the other hand, evidence shows that the AL's stance on Libya and Syria is not a radical shift. First, the AL failed to undertake efforts at independent dispute resolution in Libya. In Syria, there are particular diplomatic constraints limiting actions, and the AL retains a fundamental lack of institutional capacity to resolve the conflict without reliance on international support. Hence, even if the regional balance of power were not in favor of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the AL would only be able to play a limited role because of other factors than regional power distribution. Drawing from the literature on regional organizations, this article focuses on the factors of main organizing principle, institutional capacity and operational experience to evaluate the AL's performance in addressing security challenges and contributing to conflict resolution. It is argued that the AL by the events that forced governmental change in Egypt and Tunisia, destabilized Yemen and Bahrain, and led to civil war in Libya and Syria. The League of Arab States, known as The Arab League (AL) intervened in this political transformation process as the sole regional organization of which all of the self identified Arab states are members. It appeared as a natural regional interlocutor despite the fact that it has long been known as an ineffective organization that supports the traditional status quo in the region. However, some scholars and journalists argue that the AL has proven to be a more useful regional organization during the Arab Uprisings, particularly in Libya and Syria, because it has attempted to take a stance against dictatorial regimes and to favour popular calls for democracy.1 The Arab Uprisings transformed the AL because it diverged from its traditional philosophy of nonintervention towards involvement in Arab states' domestic affairs.2 Some analysts linked this proactivity with the growing influence of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are able to dominate the AL because of their wealth, and the ongoing internal problems of traditional Arab countries such as Egypt, Iraq, and Syria.3 Colombo has identified a "double standard approach" in which these two countries influenced the AL in an inconsistent and interest driven way.4 For example, while they supported the Bahraini monarchy against the protestors without raising the issue to the AL, they chose to utilize While Qatar and Saudi Arabia supported the Bahraini monarchy against the protestors without raising the issue to the AL, they chose to utilize the AL to call for international military involvement in Libya and Syria. Questioning the role of the Arab League in the "Arab Uprisings" Process 85 ways in which organizations achieve collective action, in order to provide a theoretical framework for assessing the performance of the AL. Similar to many other regional bodies, the AL was designated as the provider of a forum for mediating disputes. Hence, it has been expected that it would take some collective initiatives to settle members' intra states disputes that occurred along with the region wide Arab Uprisings, thus threatening the security of the entire region. The literature on regional organizations provides answers for the following questions that are also important in examining and measuring the effectiveness of the AL. These questions include issues of why organizations like the AL are established in the first place, which functions they should carry out, ways in which their performances can be evaluated, and which factors influence their performance. After this review, the paper moves on to discuss the historical background of the AL and to present evidence of the AL's initiatives during various crises. The discussion section will provide an analysis of factors influencing the League's performance. Regional Organizations, Functions and Measuring Effectiveness Economic and political cooperation attempts through regional organizations has neither the willingness to play a substantial role due to its over emphasis on sovereignty, nor the adequate institutional capacity to become an effective agent due to its organizational weaknesses and difficulties in decision making and enforcement procedures. The League also lacks credibility due to its poor record in solving previous conflicts and enforcing human rights protection. Nevertheless, the AL's quest for an active role and for visibility in intra state disputes has been observable during the Arab Uprisings, particularly in the Libyan and Syrian crises. Thus, it can be said to have displayed tenacity and flexibility in its diplomatic initiatives, played a salient role in the internationalization of issues, and questioned the possibility of adopting new measures like building a specific regional peace keeping force. The paper will review the literature on regional organizations and the States prefer forming regional bodies to create common platforms for diplomacy, economic, political and cultural interactions that will inhibit neighbors from using military means. Zeynep Sahin Mencutek 86 regional peace. Classic, neofunctional theory approaches regional integration as a driving force for peace. States prefer forming regional bodies to create common platforms for diplomacy, economic, political and cultural interactions that will inhibit neighbors from using military means. The advantage of creating a zone of peace and prosperity or "a security community" is acknowledged by all its members.9 The EU integration process is taken as the first and most succesful example serving for this function, because it exemplifies how a regional organization transformed from being simply an instrument for economic cooperation to being a political actor, and for creating a zone of peace. The second theoretical approach focuses on the importance of explaining the origins and the management of conflicts at the regional level.10 The end of the Cold War demonstrated that conflicts are not confined to nation states, they have serious implications at the subregional and regional levels in the forms of refugee flows, proliferation of weapons, and export of violence.11 National mechanisms are often inadequate to meet these challenges and there is therefore the need to develop regional arrangements for sustainable regional peace. So, the regionalization of conflict is the reason for forming or reactivating existent regional organizations. They may contribute by containing unrest, limiting the spread and adverse impacts have been long observed in world politics. Since the end of the Cold War, the number and scope of regional organizations have extended and they gotten more involved in practising collective action in security challenges. Countries share interests and problems related to their security that can be only solved through regional coordination and cooperation. The UN also acknowledged the importance of regional arrangements by stating in its Charter that mediation initiated and managed by regional agencies is one of the techniques for solving international conflicts, and UN members are encouraged to "make every effort to achieve pacific settlement of local disputes through such regional arrangements."5 There has been a growing scholarly literature on regional organizations. While some studies examine organizations' institutional mechanisms and autonomy, some others analyze the conditions under which these organizations become a significant actors in regional and global governance or able to produce collective security goods.6 A plethora of studies focus on single cases to evaluate the performance of a given organization in a certain sector.7 The field of study has been mainly dominated by empirical and theoretical research on the European Union (EU) There have also been scholarly attempts to compare different cases in order to reach generalizations.8 Theoretically, regional organisations can have two different functions for Questioning the role of the Arab League in the "Arab Uprisings" Process 87 bodies or via force. These instruments are used by regional organizations to become effective in preventing, mitigating, and solving both interstate and intrastate conflicts. Some might argue that using force, in particular, serves well for ending violent conflicts, nevertheless it is a less preferred instrument by member states. Abdel Fatau Musah's empirical study on the the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) demonstrat