Nasserism () is an Arab nationalist and Arab socialist political ideology based on the thinking of Gamal Abdel Nasser, one of the two principal leaders of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and Egypt's second president. Spanning the domestic and international spheres, it combines elements of Arab socialism, republicanism, secularism, nationalism, anti-imperialism, developing world solidarity, Pan-Arabism, and international non-alignment. According to Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, Nasserism symbolised "the direction of liberation, socialist transformation, the people's control of their own resources, and the democracy of the peoples working forces." According to Willard Range's interpretation of Nasserism, Nasserism was assumed "to give the Arab spirit a new lease on life" that would one day "make Arabs self-confident". Showing that this ideology was not created for political reform, rather as liberation towards outside perspectives.Range, Willard. "An Interpretation of Nasserism." The Western Political Quarterly, vol. 12, no. 4, Dec. 1959, pp. 1005-16. JSTOR, www.jstor.org.
Many other Arab countries have adopted Nasserist forms of government during the 20th century, most being formed during the 1960s, including Algeria under the FLN, Iraq under the Arab Socialist Union, and the Libyan Arab Republic under Muammar Gaddafi. In Yemen, Nasserism was represented by the Nasserist Democratic Party, led by Yassin Abdoh Saeed Noman, who was its Secretary-General until his death in 2020. The Nasserist ideology is also similar in theory to the Ba'athist ideology which was also notably practiced under Saddam Hussein's Iraq from 1968–2003 and under the Assad family's Syria from 1963–2024.
History
In the 1950s and 1960s, Nasserism was amongst the most potent political ideologies in the Arab world. This was especially true following the Suez Crisis of 1956 (known in Egypt as the Tripartite Aggression), the political outcome of which was seen as a validation of Nasserism and a tremendous defeat for Western imperial powers. Nasser having led the triumph in this crisis had made him "more than ever the hero of the Arab world"Mansfield, P. (1973). Nasser and Nasserism. International Journal: Canada's Journal of Global Policy Analysis, 28(4), 670-688. https://doi.org/10.1177/002070207302800405 (Original work published 1973). During the Cold War, its influence was also felt in other parts of Africa and the developing world, particularly with regard to anti-imperialism and non-alignment. Nasser had created the need to have a "national dignity" as the need grew more Nasserism began to grow into more of an ideological force. The scale of the Arab defeat in the Six-Day War of 1967 damaged the standing of Nasser and the ideology associated with him. The failure in 1967 had exposed many limits and flaws in Nasserism. Many of which were not outcomes of the war but rather had been hidden under the populated growth of Nasserism, "Almost two decades of Nasserist rule did not eradicate the eternal problem of Egyptian poverty and scarcity."Ajami, F. (1974). On Nasser and His Legacy. Journal of Peace Research, 11(1), 41-49. https://doi.org/10.1177/002234337401100104 (Original work published 1974)Though it survived Nasser's death in 1970, certain important tenets of Nasserism were revised or abandoned totally by his successor Anwar Sadat during what he termed the Corrective Revolution and later his Infitah economic policies. Under the three decade rule of Sadat's successor Hosni Mubarak, most of the remaining Arab-socialist infrastructure of Egypt was replaced by neoliberal policies strongly at odds with Nasserist principles. In the international arena, Mubarak departed almost entirely from traditional Egyptian policy, becoming a steadfast ally of both the United States government and Israel, the latter still viewed by most Egyptians with enmity and distrust, derived largely from the five wars that Egypt fought against Israel between 1948 and 1973.
During Nasser's lifetime, Nasserist groups were encouraged and often supported financially by Egypt to the extent that many became seen as willing agents of the Egyptian government in its efforts to spread revolutionary nationalism in the Arab world. In doing so, many began seeing pride restored in Egyptians, increase status in Arabs worldwide, and the "mobilization of masses in the political process as participants"Elie Podeh and Onn Winckler. (2004). Rethinking Nasserism. University Press of Florida.
In Nasserism Revitalized (2007) Riexinger, M., & Ḥanafī, H. (2007). Nasserism revitalized. A critical reading of Ḥasan Ḥanafī's projects "The Islamic left" and "Occidentalism" (and their uncritical reading) Riexinger discusses how even after Nassers death Nasserism and the foundation it was built on had lasted. Riexinger describes how movements such as Islamic Left of Hasan Hanafi coincided with Nasserism. Built on the same foundation of anti-imperialism and tied with cultural and religious roots.
In the 1970s, as a younger generation of Arab revolutionaries came to the fore Nasserism outside Egypt metamorphosed into other Arab nationalist and pan-Arabist movements, including component groups of the Lebanese National Movement during the Lebanese Civil War. The main Nasserite movements that continued to be active until today on the Lebanese scene are mainly represented by the organization in Sidon of populist Nasserist partisans (at-Tanzim ash-Sha'bi an-Nassiri) that are led by Oussama Saad and in Beirut as represented mainly by the Al-Mourabitoun movement. Both groups have been mainly active since the early 1950s among Arabs and they are currently associated politically with the March 8 coalitions in Lebanese politics.
Nasserism continues to have significant resonance throughout the Arab world, and informs much of the public dialogue on politics in Egypt and the wider region. Prominent Nasserist Hamdeen Sabahi competed in the first round of the 2012 Egyptian presidential election and only narrowly missed out on a position in the run-off against eventual winner Mohamed Morsi. He later competed in the 2014 presidential election as one of only two candidates in a run-off, but lost to the other candidate, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, in a significant landslide victory for the latter. In Nasserism and the impossibility of innocence 2021 by Zeyad el Nabolsy, Nabolsy explains that this persistence seen in the elections is a sign that Nasserism has succeeded in transforming into a political ideology.Nabolsy, Zeyad. (2021). Nasserism and the impossibility of innocence. International Politics Reviews. 9. 1-9. 10.1057/s41312-021-00105-1. Decades after Nasser's death there are still signs of Nasserism active as a political party in Middle Eastern Countries.
Interpretations "Nasserism", the broad term used in literature to describe the aspects of Nasser's rule and his legacy, can be interpreted in many ways. P. J. Vatikiotis in his book Nasser and his Generation (1978) argues that Nasserism had the limited political connotation of a phenomenon of "personal charismatic leadership, not to a movement or ideology". Vatikiotis elaborates upon Nasser's use of speech as a political tool to sway his constituents despite their deprivation of any participation in their leader's policies. To this end, Nasser frequently addressed masses on both radio and television as well as in huge rallies, with a "repeated hypnotic incantation of "imperialism" and "agents of imperialism", "reactionaries", "revenge", "dignity and self-respect", "Zionism" and "Arabism". Crowds were galvanized to hysteria as Nasser excited them with hopes and aspirations of strong leadership and Arab unity.
Nasserism, along with a similar Latin American ideology of Juan Perón, Peronism, was also interpreted as fascism. This was disputed by the political scientist John H. Kautsky, who argued that while Peronism and Nasserism have often been called fascist, this term is unsuitable given their significant differences from European fascism and Nazism. Kautsky notes that while fascism "was a movement of the propertied but impoverished and frustrated lower middle class, directed against labor and liberal intellcctuals, with the support of the traditional land-owning aristocracy and capitalists in banking and heavy industry", Nasserism and Peronism pursued "industrialization, basing their power on the support of labor and peasants, and turning against the traditional aristocracy and often the capitalists".
To put it in retrospect, in Nasser and Nasserism 1973 Peter Mansfield emphasizes on the "personal charismatic leadership"Vatikiotis, P. J. (1978). Nasser and his generation. St. Martin's Press. that Vatikiotis also mentions, emphasizing an understanding that Nasserism had become an extension of Nasser himself. Fouad Ajami in On Nasser and His Legacy 1974, writes that Nasserism is not seen as a structured ideology but rather more as a symbol of Arab political uprising and strength. Ajami interprets it as, "Nasserism may ultimately be purely psychological and symbolic..."
In Rethinking Nasserism (2004), Podeh and Winckler discuss another interpretation of Nasserism. According to them, "Western social scientists in the 1950s and 1960s, perceived Nasserism as a modernization movement and Nasser as a modernizing leader...Egypt was seen as a typical Third World country undergoing a process of decolonization and, under new revolutionary leadership, aspiring to national prosperity through modernization. Thus, Nasserism was perceived as an attempt to transform Egyptian traditional society through the modernization of its economy and society".
Yet another insight into Nasserism is provided in Political Trends in the Fertile Crescent (1958) by Walid Khalidi, who discusses it as not an ideological movement, rather an "attitude of mind" that is "eclectic, empirical, radical, and yet conservative". According to Walidi, Nasserism was able to attract support in the Arab world because it "transferred, if only partially, to the Arab world itself, the center of decisions concerning the future of that world". Khalidi asserts that this change inspired self-confidence in the Arab community. In A History of the Modern Middle East (2018), the author also talks about how Nasserism inspired self-confidence in the Arab community. The author states, "Egypt had gained a measure of independence and pride that at that time seemed enviable and worthy of emulation."
Ideology
Nasserism is an Arab nationalist and pan-Arabist ideology, combined with a vaguely defined socialism, often distinguished from Eastern Bloc or Western thought by the label "Arab socialism". According to Idriss Jebari, Nasserist Arab socialism was pragmatic and based on Yugoslav socialism. Nasserist policies included nationalization of key economic sectors, basing the economy on economic planning, and commitment to social reform through seizing the properties of large landowners, as well as establishing an all-encompassing welfare model that included education, workplace and social life provisions. Nasserist socialism differs from Marxism in maintaining a degree of private property and opposing Marxist rejection of religion. Jebari notes that in contrast to Egyptian Marxists, Nasserism "was able to communicate its principles across the Arab masses" and "secured the support of students, peasants, workers, and the middle class".