Since the creation of the Arab State System in the wake of the decolonization process, the rhetoric of arab nationalism has been the background over which the political relations have been developed among the arab states. However, these relations are far from achieving unity, and can be characterized more by the desintegration. The literature on political integration in the Arab World points several factors related to the apparently contraditory idea represented by the unifying arab nationalism speech and the abscence of integration in the region. These factors were analysed in this research in different periods selected to be studied: 1954-1973, 1973-1990, and 1990-2004. As theoretical reference, it was used the structural realism proposed by the English School of International Relations. In the attempt to answer the question that guided this research - what does condition the Arab World to live in a permanent fragmentation despite all the unifying arabist speech? - it was sought to identify which of theses factors pointed by the literature about integration in the Arab World had a greater role for the non-integrative arab phenomenon. It was revealed that only the lack of regional economic complementarity did not have a significant role for the absence of intra-arab political integration between the years 1954 and 2004.
Arab World; Pan-arabism; Arab State System; Political Integration; Structural Realism