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Concept
Ba'athism
Summary
Ba'athism, also spelled Baathism, ('bɑːθIzm; البعثية albaʕˈθijja, from بعث baʕθ, meaning "renaissance" or "resurrection") is an Arab nationalist ideology which promotes the creation and development of a unified Arab state through the leadership of a vanguard party over a socialist revolutionary government. The ideology is officially based on the theories of the Syrian intellectuals Michel Aflaq (per the Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party), Zaki al-Arsuzi (per the Syrian-led Ba'ath Party), and Salah al-Din al-Bitar. Ba'athist leaders of the modern era include the former president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, former President of Syria, Hafez al-Assad and his son, the current president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad.
The Ba'athist ideology advocates the "enlightenment of the Arabs" as well as the renaissance of their culture, values and society. It also advocates the creation of one-party states and rejects political pluralism in an unspecified length of time– the Ba'ath party theoretically uses an unspecified amount of time to develop an "enlightened" Arabic society. Ba'athism is based on the principles of secularism, Arab nationalism, pan-Arabism, and Arab socialism. Like Marxists, Ba'athists view religion as a tool used by traditional elites to oppress the weaker sections of the society and reinforce their conservative social order.
Ba'athism advocates socialist economic policies such as state ownership of natural resources, protectionism, distribution of lands to peasants, and favour planned economies. Although inspired by Western socialist thinkers, early Ba'athist theoreticians rejected Marxist class-struggle concept, arguing that it hampers Arab unity. Ba'athists contend that socialism is the only way to develop modern Arab society and unite it.
The two Ba'athist states which have existed (Iraq and Syria) prevented criticism of their ideology through authoritarian means of governance. Ba'athist Syria has been labelled "neo-Ba'athist" rather than "Ba'athist" because the form of Ba'athism developed by the leadership of Syrian Ba'ath party was quite distinct from the Ba'athism which Aflaq and Bitar wrote about.
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