The Arab Socialist Regimes - Essay Example

THE ARAB SOCIALIST REGIMES Introduction The Arab socialist regimes began after World War II after the coming together of educated middle class and the unofficial opposition member so as to initiate steps for independence and economic growth and development. The state was viewed as the sole carrier of development and a number of reforms were presented in order to safeguard the welfare of the state. Such reforms included banking, insurance, land reforms, foreign trade and regulations. The expansion of the social, educational, health and welfare services was undertaken by the regimes. The Arab socialist regimes were identified as an alliance between a dominant military and an intermediate branch that borrowed a lot from the Soviet Union form of socialism (Buss, 046-052). The current regimes are more aligned to the Western nations such as Europe and the United States. The Arab form of socialism has been marked by imperialism in which the central power is centered around an individual as opposed to the current regimes in which the people are granted the chance to elect their leaders through a democratic process as seen recently in Egypt and Iraq. The ties between national social classes and imperialism took over after the fall of the socialist regimes due to accumulation of capitalism. The socialist regimes and the current regimes The socialist regimes in the Arab countries of the Middle East had a number of characteristics that makes them different from the current systems in the countries. These features were mainly evident in Syria, Egypt and Iraq. Some of the features included central planning in which control and planning of economic activities and other government activities. The government took the initiative of setting up the production goals, wage limit and costs of goods and services. It also ensured total control of all the public assets and resources (Silbermann, 712-715). This was contrary to the current system in which the countries such as Egypt, Afghanistan and Iraq are approaching planning through the laissez-faire system where they do not directly control the economy. The regimes ensured a welfare state approach in the distribution of public resources. In Iraq, people were guaranteed universal healthcare, education and provision of support funds to the old members of the society. This is still applied in those countries since welfare is not the same thing as socialism. The socialist regimes aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in the production process, initiating public investment so as to raise the capacity level and finally promoting import substituting form of industrialization. This is different from the current Arab regimes that are advocating for capitalism in which people are motivated to produce their own wealth. In the current systems, the locals who include farmers and low-scale workers have lost the socialized form of life in education, medicine and agriculture n which the right to farm the land has become a thing of the past and the income levels have been lowered making it hard to pursue individual economic activities (Salama, 168). The rise neo-liberalism that came after the fall of the socialist regimes stripped the working class of a number of previous gains that had been achieved by socialism. The rise of the Arab Springs in Egypt had a negative impact in the socialist regime as the people crave for a more democratic state that s marked by capitalism. In all the Arab socialist regimes, the state-centered socialist economy offered protection to the niches that were fully occupied by the private sector. The activities of the private sector were fully concentrated on construction and retail as opposed to the large scale manufacturing. The regimes subsidized the inputs for production and the stats further controlled the level of prices that were passed to the consumers. The regimes ensured tariff walls that were designed to protect the members of the public from foreign competition. In an effort to increase production, the states extended supply as well as construction of contracts to the private sector and they were able to secure profits through subcontracting amongst one another. All the Arab socialist regimes upheld an anti-imperialist views that called for cohesion that could be attained through redistribution. The Arab socialist regimes advanced a political ideology that was based on the coming together of the Pan-Arabism and socialism and it was mainly entrenched on Arab Socialist Baath Party. The Arab socialist regimes were based on a set of ideologies that include lack of class struggles within the socialist states, the state had total control over the national economy and the states were to be answerable to the people in all major national issues. Another ideology was commitment to religion and freedom of faith as well as worship that formed the integral part of the states and the main religion was Islam (Browers, 0126). The state believed that freedom of worship was core towards the realization of a religious state that was the dream of every Arab socialist republic. This is still pursued in some of the states however most have allowed religious freedom that shows tolerance to other religions besides Islam. Contrary to the current systems, the state is not in total control of all the national economy as some of the functions have been devolved to regional governments. Conclusion The management of the Arab Socialist regimes was based on three aspects namely disciplines, membership and finance. The regimes instilled discipline to the people in the land by ensuring that everyone inspired one another through their exemplary conduct, political consciousness, and their willingness to sacrifice themselves in the interest of the states. The leaders of the regimes had deep faith in discipline as they believed that lack of it would lead to failure of the states. In order the ensure discipline, the regimes came up with a number of rules and regulations so as to tackle abuse of power by those in leadership positions, corruption and laziness at work. Breaching of the rules could lead to death through hanging or demotion from leadership positions. In relation to finances, the regimes were supported by contributions from the members of the political parties. In Iraq, President Saddam Hussein gave five percent of all the revenues from oil. Works Cited Browers, Michaelle. Democracy and Civil Society in Arab Political Thought: Transcultural Possibilities. Syracuse, N.Y: Syracuse University Press, 2006. Print. Buss, Robin. Wary Partners: the Soviet Union and Arab Socialism. London: Institute for Strategic Studies, 1970. Print. Salama, A M. S, and M S. Ahmed. Arab Socialism. London: Blandford Press, 1972. Print. Silbermann, Gad. Revolutionism and Arab Socialism: A Study of the Ideology and Policy of Arab Socielist Regimes. Jerusalem: Israel Adademic Committee on the Middle East, 1973. Print. Read More