Journal of Global History· 2026Q1
Regionalising development: UN expertise and the making of a pan-Arab welfare field, 1949–59
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
UN-sponsored seminars from 1949-1959 helped shape a distinct pan-Arab developmental field, shifting language from 'reinvigoration' to 'guardianship' and fostering authoritarian welfare regimes.
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Key points
- Five UN Social Research Seminars convened in the Arab East between 1949 and 1959.
- The Arab League leveraged UN institutional uncertainty to shape these seminars.
- A lexical shift occurred from 'emancipatory inʿāsh' (reinvigoration) to 'custodial riʿāya' (guardianship) in developmental discourse.
- These seminars helped consolidate a self-sustaining professional field for development.
- The resulting regional arena facilitated national implementation of global development ideas, aligning with authoritarian welfare regimes.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract In August 1949, the first Social Research Seminar for the Arab States convened in Beirut; five further seminars followed over the next decade. Drawing on Arabic-language seminar proceedings and UN archival records, this article recovers these largely overlooked gatherings to analyse how a distinct regional developmental field took shape in the post-war Arab East. UN institutional uncertainty in the late 1940s allowed the Arab League to capture this format, to authenticate global development through civilisational framing—most visibly in a lexical shift from emancipatory inʿāsh (reinvigoration) to custodial riʿāya (guardianship)—and to consolidate a self-sustaining professional field. The resulting regional arena mediated between global circulation and national implementation while proving durably compatible with the authoritarian welfare regimes emerging across the region.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Journal of Global History, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: History
HistoryArts and Humanities