Media plays a fundamental role in the formation of national identity, most famously detailed in Benedict Anderson’s theory of the imagined community. In the Arab world, a media revolution is contributing to the emergence of a reawakened regional Arab consciousness. A comparison of data from the first major regional survey of Arab journalists and the results of various public opinion polls in the region indicate that Arab journalists stand on the borderlands of Arab identity, shaping an emerging “imagined” watan [nation] that, in some ways, transcends the traditional lines in the sand that define the nation-state.

Middle East experts were as surprised as everyone else by the Arab revolts. Focused on explaining the stability of local autocracries in recent decades, they under-estimated the hidden forces driving change. As they wipe the egg off their faces, they need to reconsider long-held assumptions about the Arab world.

Pan-Arabism has not succeeded as an ideology so far, but it is not to say that all of its variants have failed altogether. The ideological clarity desired by such a vision is simply not present, for, even amongst its founders, there is a clash and a severe variance over who does and can refer to themselves as an Arab. Strong political Will has also been lacking. An effective sense of brotherhood can actually be forged only when there is continued stability in the Arab world. Under the current conditions Pan-Arabism will continue to shimmy along like a fire on a torch since neither Zionist occupation nor American subservience is about to die out soon.