Its driving ideological force was a European-inspired secular nationalism, which strove for political and social modernization through top-down government action. This type of nationalism, or “Arab socialism,” reached its apex during the Cold War, when it could lean on Soviet military, political, and economic support.
旧的中东建立在欧洲列强在1918年土耳其帝国崩溃以后所创建的边界和政治认同之上。为它提供驱动力的意识形态力量是受到欧洲启发的世俗国家主义，企图通过自上而下的政府行动实现政治和社会的现代化。这种国家主义，或“阿拉伯社会主义”在冷战中到达了顶点。当时它可以依赖苏联的军事、政治和经济支持。