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Amidst the tumult and chaos raging everywhere in the Middle East, a constant stands out: the eroding power and influence of the state. It is perhaps best described as a tendency toward erosion, even fragmentation, that seems to be underway across the region, but nowhere more so than in Arabism’s heartland — Syria and Iraq.

And yet, while the whole Arab region seems to be affected to one degree or another, Turkey and Iran are not. Why? What accounts for this “Arab” exception? And just how deep-rooted is this state of affairs?

The phenomenon is unlike anything so-called experts on the region, like myself, recognize from the post-Ottoman past; the deeper, pre-Ottoman past, is even less relevant.

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John Moore via Getty Images

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Click link below for story, photos and slideshow:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kanan-makiya/middle-east-arab-states_b_9533730.html

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