The Arab League and the crisis of Westphalian sovereignty in the Arab world after 2011

Abstract

The Arab League’s observance to the norm of Westphalian sovereignty has witnessed significant transformation since the 2011 Arab uprisings. Historically, the Arab League had acted as the primary institutional expression and guardian of the Arab sovereign state system as the core constitutive principle of the Arab regional order. However, in an unprecedented setback to the norm of Westphalian sovereignty in the Arab world, the Arab League has moved, in the aftermath of the Arab uprisings, in the direction of endorsing the principles of regime change and intervention in the domestic affairs of Arab countries as acceptable norms in Arab regional politics. This transformation in the politics of the Arab League, the article contends, has been triggered by concurrent changes in the global and regional balances of power, both of which have been instrumental in bringing the politics of the Arab League under the dictate of a strategic alliance of global and regional actors.