The Social Construction of a ‘Pan-Arabist Hero’: Gamal Abdel Nasser

Abstract

This article investigates the social construction of Gamal Abdel Nasser’s pan-Arab identity from a social constructivist theoretical approach. In this sense, it scrutinizes how Nasser came to be constructed as a pan-Arab hero by cleverly manipulating the symbolic politics and establishing socially and politically binding pan-Arab norms and eventually made himself constrained by them. This study also examines social constructivism’s explanatory power as a theoretical model in understanding and explaining Nasser’s political motives and moves by comparing it with that of rationalism. It is argued that Nasser’s power did not come from the economic or military capabilities, as rationalism fails to explain, but his power came from his ability to frame the events within a historical narrative in such a rhetorical way to establish new Arab norms. He was the leading figure in the establishment of United Arab Republic, North Yemen Civil War and The Six-Day War of 1967, despite all were against his and Egypt’s absolute material national interests. This article analyzes the path to nationalist ascent and descent of Nasser’s Arabism by chronologically scrutinizing on the discourses and events in order to examine the power of the given theories in explaining each period.