The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (Arabic: حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي Arabic: Hizb Al-Ba'ath Al-'Arabi Al-Ishtiraki) was a political party mixing Arab nationalist and Arab socialist interests, opposed to Western imperialism, and calling for the renaissance or resurrection and unification of the Arab world into a single state. Ba'ath is also spelled Ba'th or Baath and means "rebirth," "resurrection," "restoration," or "renaissance" (reddyah). Its motto — "Unity, Liberty, Socialism" (wahda, hurriya, ishtirakiya) — refers to Arab unity, and freedom from non-Arab control and interference. Its ideology of Arab socialism is notably different in origins and practice from classical Marxism and is similar in outlook to 'third-worldism'.
The party was founded in 1940 by the Syrian intellectuals Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar. It has established branches in different Arab countries, although it has only ever held power in Syria and Iraq. In Syria it has had a monopoly on political power since the party's 1963 coup. Ba'athists also seized power in Iraq in 1963, but were deposed some months later. They returned to power in a 1968 coup and remained the sole party of government until the 2003 Iraq invasion. Since the invasion, the party has been banned in Iraq.
In 1966, a coup d'état by the military against the historical leadership of Aflaq and Bitar led the Syrian and Iraqi parties to split into rival organizations — the Qotri (or regionalist) Syria-based party and the Qawmi (or nationalist) Iraq-based party. Both retained the Ba'ath name and parallel structures within the Arab world, but hostilities between them grew to the point that the Syrian Ba'ath government became the only Arab government to support Iran (a non-Arabic nation) against Iraq during the First Persian Gulf War.
| Party | Founded | Dissolved | Founder(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arab Ba'ath | 1940 | 1947 | Zaki al-Arsuzi | The party merged with the Arab Ba'ath Movement to form the Arab Ba'ath Party in 1947. |
| Arab Ba'ath Movement | 1940 | 1947 | Michel Aflaq and Salah al-Din al-Bitar | The direct predecessor to the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, it merged with the Arab Ba'ath to form the Arab Ba'ath Party in 1947. |
| Ba'ath Party | 1947 | 1966 | Founded as the Arab Ba'ath Party, it later merged with the Arab Socialist Party in 1952 and renamed itself the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The party broke into two in 1966, between rival Baghdad and Damascus-based factions. |
| Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region | Founded | Leader | ||
| Algeria | Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party of Algeria | 1988 | Ahmed Choutri[1] | |
| Bahrain | Nationalist Democratic Assembly[2] | 1991 | Rasul al-Jishi | |
| Iraq | Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region[3] | 1951[4] | Salah Al-Mukhtar | |
| Jordan | Jordanian Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party | 1948/1951[5] | Founded by a group of teachers. | |
| Kuwait | Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Kuwait Region | 1955[6] | Faisal al-Sani | |
| Lebanon | Socialist Arab Lebanon Vanguard Party[7] | 1966 | Abdel Majid Mohamed Tayeb Rafei | |
| Libya | Libyan Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party[8] | 1954 | ||
| Mauritania | National Vanguard Party[9] | 1991[10] | Mohamed Ould Abdellahi Ould Eyye[11] | |
| Palestine | Arab Liberation Front | 1969 | Mahmoud Ismael | |
| Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic | Sahrawi Socialist Baath Party | 1994 | Najim Oumejjoud | |
| Sudan | Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Region of Sudan[12] | 1970 | Kamal Bolad | |
| Tunisia | Tunisian Ba'ath Movement | 1988 | Omar Othman Belhadj | |
| Syria | Arab Socialist Ba'ath | 1947 | ||
| Yemen | National Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Yemen Region | 1955–1956 | Qassam Salam Said | |
| Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction) | ||||
| Region | Founded | Leader | ||
| Bahrain | Arab Socialist Ba'ath | |||
| Iraq | Arab Socialist Ba'ath | 1966 | Mahmud al-Shaykh Radhi[13] | |
| Jordan | Arab Ba'ath Progressive Party | 1993 | Fuad Dabbour | |
| Lebanon | Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Lebanon Region | 1949 | Fayez Shukr | |
| Mauritania | Socialist Democratic Unionist Party | 1994 | Mahfouz Weld al-Azizi | |
| Palestine | As-Sa'iqa[14] | 1966[15] | Farhan Abu Al-Hayja | |
| Sudan | Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Organization of Sudan | 1980 | at-Tijani Mustafa Yassin[16] | |
| Syria | Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region | 1943[17] | Bashar al-Assad | |
| Tunisia | Party of the Democratic Arab Vanguard | Kheireddine Souabni | ||
| Yemen | Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Yemen Region[18] | 1951 | Mahmoud Abdul-Wahab Abdul-Hamid | |
| Party | Founded | Dissolved | Founder(s) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socialist Lebanon | 1965 | 1970 | Ahmed Beydoun | The party was merged into the Communist Action Organization in Lebanon in 1970. | |
| Arab Socialist Revolutionary Ba'ath Party | 1960 | 1962/63[19] | Abdullah Rimawi | ||
| Arab Revolutionary Workers Party | 1966 | – | Yasin al-Hafiz | Still active, as of 2011 | |
| Democratic Socialist Arab Ba'ath Party | 1980 | – | Ibrahim Makhous | Is part of the National Democratic Rally and still active in France | |
| Sudanese Ba'ath Party | 2002 | – | Mohamed Ali Jadin | Was established by a split inside the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Country of Sudan, the pro-Iraqi ba'ath branch. |