Source: Journal of International Relations, No.6, 2025

Abstract: Arab states are undergoing a strategic and discursive transformation within the framework of the Global South, shifting from a reliance on historical memory toward institutional innovation. This process continues the anti-colonial and de-dependency traditions while being reshaped by geopolitical dynamics, resource endowments, and regional diversity—resulting in three distinct trajectories: the Gulf “resource-based South”, North Africa “cultural South,” and the Levant “security-oriented South”. Such differentiation reveals the inner tension of a “North within the South”, reflecting the multiplicity of Arab states’ identity positions and cooperative approaches. Relying on energy, capital, and infrastructure collaboration, Arab countries have deepened South-South relations and integrated themselves into global governance through multilateral and regional institutional innovations, demonstrating an emerging capacity for normative and institutional shaping. Nevertheless, this transformation remains constrained by internal structural fragmentation and external intervention. Overall, the interaction among identity construction, strategic practice, and institutional innovation underscores both the shared aspirations of the Global South to reshape the international order and the complex realities and constraints confronting Arab states in their pursuit of institutional transformation and discursive agency.

Keywords: Arab States, Global South, identity construction, strategic transformation, institutional innovation