The League of Arab States (Arab League)

The Arab League is a regional organisation of twenty-two Arab states, founded in 1945 to draw its members closer together and to defend their independence and common interests.

At a glance

Established in Cairo in the closing months of the Second World War by a founding core of Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen, the League grew as Arab states won independence, reaching twenty-two members across the Middle East and North Africa. It is defined by Arab identity and the Arabic language rather than by religion, and so overlaps with — but is distinct from — the wider, faith-based OIC; its members are predominantly Muslim, with significant Christian populations in several states.

The League coordinates on political, economic and cultural affairs through a council in which each member has one vote, and it has spawned specialised agencies of its own. Its history has been marked by the difficulty of forging common Arab positions: it suspended Egypt's membership after the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, moved its headquarters to Tunis for a decade, and later suspended Syria in 2011 amid that country's civil war before readmitting it in 2023.

Like other consensus-based blocs, the League is often criticised as more symbolic than effective, its decisions constrained by the rivalries of its members. It nonetheless remains the oldest standing regional organisation of the Arab world and a recurring stage for its collective diplomacy.

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