This thesis attempts to explain why Saddam Hussein could not mobilise collective Arab support for his invasion of Kuwait in the early 1990s, despite his use of pan-Arab rhetoric, arguments and...Show moreThis thesis attempts to explain why Saddam Hussein could not mobilise collective Arab support for his invasion of Kuwait in the early 1990s, despite his use of pan-Arab rhetoric, arguments and justifications. Saddam’s failure to gather support from all Arab states became incontrovertible when an anti-Iraq coalition was formed by the United States which consisted of various Arab countries, including Egypt and Syria. Based on qualitative historical analysis of secondary sources, discourse analysis of Iraqi speeches and content analysis of economic documents, Egyptian and Syrian newspaper articles, this thesis argues that Saddam’s failure was caused by the decline of pan-Arabism and the rise of national statism in the Arab world since the late 1960s. Case studies of Egypt and Syria during the First Gulf War make clear that these countries prioritised the state over the (pan-)Arab nation by advancing state instead of pan-Arab interests and valuing state sovereignty and state power over pan-Arab unity.Show less