WASHINGTON — The unrealized dream of a unified Arab world is a potent and enduring force in Arab politics. To the outsider, however, this may seem off: The Arab people are victimized, first and foremost, by their own governments and leaders. Many Arabs enthusiastically agree. But they would add that the source of the problem lies in the drive of the outsider to divide, manipulate and weaken the Arab world.

Indeed, until the 20th Century, borders meant very little in the Middle East. Historically, it was the city, not the state, that was the significant political unit. Even today, when an Arab traveller indicates he is en route to Cairo or Damascus, the words he uses could also be translated to mean "Egypt" or "Syria." The territorial states that have emerged were literally innovations imposed by Euorpeans.

Saddam Hussein, like aspiring Arab nationalists before him, promises to shape the region along Arab lines and to thwart efforts to keep the Arab world divided unto itself. Although his promises sound cynical and transparently self-serving, it would be wrong to dismiss the power of his words. The longer the Iraqi leader is able to hold out against the world, the more credible his calls for widespread Arab support will become. The well-worn vernacular of Arab nationalism may be his most effective weapon.

Arab nationalism--the idea that the Arabs constitute a single distinctive nation united by a history and a common language--emerged only in the latter half of the 19th Century. But it was not transformed into effective political programs until the post-World War II era, when the Arabs broke free of their European masters.

The ideal of Pan-Arabism is reflected in the voting rules of the Arab League, which call for decision-making by consensus. In the continuing Persian Gulf crisis, the rule has been set aside, a measure of the strength of the response evoked by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

It is no accident that minorities--Christians and heretical Muslims--have often been enthusiastic proponents of Arab nationalism. By appealing to a universal identity, they hope to mask the qualities that make them different. In the government-controlled press of Iraq and Syria, the sectarian groups that make up society are virtually never discussed, except as anti-Arab enemies of the nation. Hafez Assad of Syria, whose Alawite sect accounts for less than 15% of Syria's population, claims his country to be the beating heart of Arab nationalism, of which he is its leading advocate.