I have published extensively on  this field - books and articles. My initial broad study examined the historical roots of the Soviet involvement in Arab countries. It first analyzed the relationship between Communism and Islam; and the ideological and political role played by the communists. Thereafter it attempted to answer the profound question of whether these ideological concerns had had any level of influence on the formulation and consolidation of the special relationships, which were created, between communist Russia and Muslim Arab countries. Based on a wide range of multi-lingual first-rate primary sources, The Soviet Union and Egypt, 1945-1955 (London: Routledge, 1993, 2022) traces the roots of the Soviet involvement in the Middle East, generally, and in Egypt particularly, in the decade that followed World War II. The study first analyzes the relationship between Communism and Islam; and the ideological and political role played by the communists. It examines whether these ideological concerns had any influence on the formulation and consolidation of the special relations between communist Russia and Muslim Arab countries.

The study disproves the prevailing belief in both Soviet and Middle Eastern research that have maintained that Soviet interest and political activity in the Middle East under Stalin were marginal; and that a fully-fledged Middle Eastern policy crystallized only after Stalin’s death in 1953, attributing the change to Khrushchev’s ascendancy. The Soviet Union and Egypt clearly shows that the nature and quality of Soviet-Arab relations were not influenced by structural changes within the Soviet ruling elite. Towards the end of World War II, Soviet policy makers were fully aware of the growing international influence and prestige of the USSR. They appealed to Middle East nationalist groups to concentrate on the task of putting an end to western influence in the Middle East. To achieve that end, the Soviets nurtured relations with governments, which pursued anti-western policy. The place of ideology, that is, the export of the principles of worldwide communist revolution, was relegated to second place. At this historical time, Stalin followed the line of realpolitik in international affairs. Foreign policy was first and foremost based on utilitarian considerations derived from the early stages of the Cold War and the USSR’s growing interests in certain parts of the world, including the Middle East, which the Soviets considered as the southern gate of the USSR. The strengthening of Soviet influence and the improvement of its position in Egypt and the Middle East in the mid-1950s, as this book demonstrates, was a result of a gradual process of political, social and ideological developments in Egypt (and other Arab countries), beginning in the early 1940s. That is, Egyptian governments decided whether or not to tighten relations with the Soviets - basing their decisions purely on beneficiary considerations and utilitarian purposes, and the Soviets, usually, responded positively to these initiatives. 

Syria and the Doctrine of Arab Neutralism (1993, 2010) deals with the modern history of post-mandatory Syria, and also dealt, with Third World and Arab countries such as India, Yugoslavia, and Egypt -- the pioneering states of neutralism. The study's main concern is Syria’s foreign policy, of which one of the chief features was the reliance on the doctrine of Arab neutralism -- a multifaceted doctrine in keeping with its natural historical evolution. The study charts the various stages in the evolution of the ideology and policy of neutralism in Syria since the early stages of the Cold War, and examines the effects that Arab neutralism had on fostering Syria’s foreign policy and the shaping of its national identity.  The phenomenon of Arab neutralism has hitherto never been comprehensively investigated.  My study disputes the prevailing belief that the formulation and realization of the policy of neutralism began only during Nasser’s first years in power. It conversely shows that the roots of neutralism were already sown in Arab soil in the early 1940s, and demonstrates how Syrian governments had carved out a policy of neutralism since the final stages of World War II. The study describes and analyzes the processes of seeping through of these ideas into the Syrian political elite on its different conceptual colors; and it examines the means and methods of the implementation of neutralist ideas by Syrian policy makers. It shows that in the case of Syria and as well as other Third World countries, throughout the first decades of the Cold War, there emerged many different forms of neutralism.  My research also charts the consolidation of the non-aligned Belgrade-Cairo-New Delhi axis and Nasser's rise to international prominence alongside Tito and Nehru. The study examines the question of the dynamic between ideology and policy, and develops a conceptual framework wherein various patterns of neutralism feature quite prominently. These neutralist patterns may be useful for scholars who will research the Cold War generally and its effects on the Middle East particularly. The research makes extensive use of newly declassified material gleaned from archives in India, the former USSR, Poland, Britain, the United States and Israel; primary sources, studied in the original Arabic are also widely utilized.   

Reviews of The Soviet Union and Egypt, 1945-1955

https://www.routledge.com/The-Soviet-Union-and-Egypt-1945-1955/Ginat/p/book/9781032373034?srsltid=AfmBOooVe851OHpqKF2_K-pQIWlJRjabIx0CfBFJ234t4KzqiLv5HaMx

An excellent reassessment of US-USSR-Egyptian relationships from 1945 to 1955 …Ginat shows that Soviet arms shipments and trade were under way as early as 1948…” Norvell B. Deatkine, Parameters: Journal of the US Army War College (Winter 1994-1995).

This book by Rami Ginat treats Egyptian-Soviet rela- tions during a decade often overlooked by scholars… In retracing Egyptian-Soviet relations during this decade, Ginat adds an important dimension to the story. Most accounts of the rise of Nasserism focus on the Anglo-American backdrop. It is illuminating to see the Soviet perspective, of old regime flirtations with neutrality, the American courtship of revolutionary Egypt, Nasser's consolidation of power in 1954, and the Czech arms deal. Students of international commerce and Egyptian business interests will want to consult sections on Soviet-Egyptian trade relations…Joel Gordon, The American Historical Review (1995). 

Rami Ginat's The Soviet Union and Egypt…aims to analyze Soviet penetration and subsequent domination of part of the Arab world, particularly of Egypt. The use of a wide range of sources and declassified material affords a wholly new perspective: according to conventional wisdom, Soviet interests and activity in the Middle East had been relativelynegligible during the Stalinist era and a comprehensive Middle Eastern policy was implemented by Moscow only after Stalin's death in 1953. This change has been considered to be a direct response to Nasser's disappointment with the West, following the establishment of the Baghdad Pact and the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip in 1955. Based on a newevidence, this study argues that the roots of the dynamics of Soviet expansion in the Middle East can be discovered in Soviet post-Second

World War policy; therefore, increasing influence employed on Egyptian affairs since the mid-1950s was a result of a political and ideological evolution begun in Egypt in the late 1940s. As a consequence, the Czech arms deal of September 1955 is discounted as the starting point of Soviet military involvement in the Middle East, for it appears that arms supplies were reaching Egypt and other Arab countries as early as 1948, when commercial agreements were signed between the Soviet Union and some of the Near Eastern states… the author succeeds in giving evidence of Soviet presence in the Middle East and Egypt before 1953 and this study casts new light on US policy in the region during the Second Truman administration; thus, American obsession with Soviet infiltration appears to be more a genuine consequence of Soviet attempts to destabilize the Middle Eastern scenario.  Manuela Maglio (University of Nottingham), Intelligence and National Security (1997)

Ginat argues that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the Czech-Egyptian arms deal in 1955 was not a direct response to Nasser's disillusion with the West but the result of a more gradual policy of Soviet penetration into the Middle East which began immediately after the Second World War… Ginat does make it clear that establishing good relations served Egyptian as well as Soviet interests. He also points out that the Soviet Union portrayed itself not as a supporter of revolutionary parties but as 'benefactor and champion of any regime which inclined towards a neutralist and anti-Western policy' (p.239). Here, too, the aim was to counterbalance the influence of a great power, although by 1948 that power was the United States and not Great Britain.  Margot Light (London School of Economics), Middle Eastern Studies (1995)

Ginat's The Soviet Union and Egypt, 1945-1955 offers an indirect corrective to…[the] conventional wisdom by underscoring the depth of Soviet preoccupation with its immediate neighborhood. By using a wide range of Soviet, western, and Arab sources, Ginat shows that Moscow's primary Middle Eastern concern from the end of World War II onward was to remove the perceived lethal western threat to its southern border. Hence its support for Zionism-then the most effective anticolonial force in the Middle East; hence its shift of focus from Israel to the Arab world once the Jewish state had outlived its usefulness in eradicating British influence in the Middle East. No lofty ideological principles dictated Soviet policy toward its regional allies but rather pragmatic, indeed opportunistic, considerations of cost and benefit. Which provides further proof, if such were at all needed, that the extra-European Cold War had nothing to do with a Manichean struggle between liberal democracy and communism, as suggested by Francis Fukuyama, but rather with the struggle for assets and allies, devoid of ideological convictions or high moral grounds… [this] book is a welcome addition to the existing literature.  Efraim Karsh (King’s College), Slavic Review (1997)

Reviews of Syria and the Doctrine of Arab Neutralism

https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.3828/9781845190088

While the end of the Cold War has offered new opportunities for assessing this four-decade long conflict, in regard to the Middle East, it can be said that, so far, no great, shattering revelations have been made available, in contrast to what we have learnt, for example, on the Cuba Missile Crisis of 1962, or the origins of the Korean War in 1950 … Against this background, the monograph by Dr. Rami Ginat of Bar-Ilan University is of particular interest … There is much of interest in this carefully researched and written book. First, Ginat’s study makes rich use of the archives of secondary powers, notably, Poland and India: perhaps the most original chapter is that on India’s relationship, in the context of the founding of the Afro-Asian Solidarity Conference at Bandung in 1955, with the Middle East, and Nehru’s sceptical views of Nasser and his ambitions. Secondly, it strengthens the general cases for state autonomy, and for the role of ideology, in the international relations of the Middle East. Moreover, this book contributes to the broader, comparative, study of the gamut of policies known as neutralism, non-alignment, third worldism and the rest, which were so prominent in this period. Fred Halliday (London School of Economics) The International History Review (2006)

Ginat provides a meticulously researched study of the intellectual and political development of Arab neutralism and the differences between Nehru’s ‘ideological/doctrinaire neutralism’ and Nasser’s ‘positive neutralism’ which informed Syrian policy in the 1950s. This excellent and scholarly work combines a history of ideas with a detailed and fascinating study of the development of Syria’s domestic and foreign policy in the search for a viable socio-economic system and an independent voice in international affairs.” Professor Margot Light, Department of International Relations, London School of Economics (2005)
 

“This publication provides a valuable, accessible, and note-worthy portrait of Syria’s political position within Arab countries, the third world, and the context of an East–West power struggle in post-mandate Syria … Ginat’s book has a number of strengths. First, the depth and breath of Ginat’s research is note-worthy … Second, the methodology Ginat chose, ‘one with mutual feedback between political history and the history of ideas (p. xiv)’, enriches his work and makes it compelling and accessible to a wide range of readers. Likewise Ginat’s grasp of the international arena and its manifold partitions and historical context is admirable … Third, Ginat’s articulation of Syria’s perspective is particularly valuable. Ginat captures the Syrian viewpoint of internal, regional, and international happenings. As such, he enunciates a rarely heard outlook, particularly outside of Syria. It should be noted that the Introduction provides an essential foundation in the theoretical bases of neutralism / non-alignment…

…Syria and the Doctrine of Arab Neutralism provides a detailed and insightful study of Arab neutralism and its manifestation in Syria. It is a significant contribution to our understandings of politics during the Cold War, the historic alliance of third world countries in the face of super powers, ideological movements, and Middle Eastern studies. It provides particularly telling lessons for students of and contemporary advocates for Syria and the Middle East.”  Nancy Elizabeth Currey (University of California‐Santa Barbara), Digest of Middle East Studies (2006)

Rami Ginat’s accessible and instructive study addresses the emergence of modern Syria from French Colonial rule… Through taking an internationalist perspective of post-independence Syria until the rise of Hafez al-Asad, Rami Ginat sheds much light on the development of Syrian foreign policy until the 1960s and the determination of third world Arab and Asian states to pursue a neutral course between the Cold War superpowers vying for influence in what became the non-aligned world. Ginat’s wide-ranging book provides an illuminating evaluation of the formation of the doctrine of ‘neutralism’ and ‘Arab neutralism’ from the perspective of the emerging non-aligned movement and the newly independent Arab states … The real value of this book is in the international and comparative perspective the author brings to the subject through the use of such diverse rich sources. The analysis illustrates the various Syrian, Arab, Third World and Cold War dynamics that both curtailed and shaped Syrian politics between the Second World War and the early 1960s. As such it provides an excellent ideological framework for scholars and postgraduates wishing to broaden their understanding of the Arab state system in the early Cold War period and the stabilization of a Syrian foreign policy that was largely masked by the instability of its frequently changing governments during this period. Michael Kerr (King’s College), Middle Eastern Studies (2006)

The author focuses on Syria’s ‘multi-faceted character,’ which shaped its foreign policy toward the West in general and the US in particular. Ginat addresses the internal politics that helped shape Syria’s policy of neutralism as well as actions taken by foreign countries toward Syria, which forced it to adopt unfavorable positions toward the West … Syria began to resent the West and started to embrace the Soviet Union to protect its interests and receive aid with no strings attached… Recommended.  K. M. Zaarour (Shaw University), Choice (November 2005)

Ginat’s contribution fills a void in the extant literature and should be of interest to anyone concerned with the evolution of Arab politics in general, and early post-mandatory Syria in particular … The work by the early intellectuals within the Ba’th Party and their impact on foreign policy prior to the ascendancy of the neo-Ba’th in 1963 is key to understanding the development of Syrian policy behaviour, yet has remained largely uncovered. Ginat’s contribution is a solid effort to redress this state of affairs … Ginat deserves particular praise for consulting a wide range of primary sources, including previously inaccessible Eastern European archival material. N. T. Anders Strindberg (Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA), Middle East Journal (2005) 

Ginat’s well-documented study is the first to provide a first-rate analysis of the ideological and the political development of the doctrine of Arab neutralism in Syria, and to a lesser extent in Egypt, from World War II until the 1960s. Ginat disputes the common belief that Nasser was the first Arab leader to exercise neutralism, and examines the effects that Arab neutralism had on shaping Syria’s foreign policy and its national identity. Using Arab, Indian, Soviet, Polish and Western primary sources, he places special emphasis on the interaction between Arab neutralism in Syria and Egypt, and other modes of neutralism in Third World countries such as India and Yugoslavia.  Moshe Ma’oz, The Truman Institute, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2005)

“The contents of this work are more diverse than its title indicates … The result is a work of originality and value. Its detailed discussion of the initial Arab opening to the USSR during World War II, when both Egypt and Syria established formal diplomatic relations with the USSR, as well as its analysis of neutralist tendencies in both Syria and Egypt in the late 1940s and early 1950s, adds historical depth to the understanding of a phenomenon generally viewed as commencing only in the mid-1950s. The substance and contribution of various political tendencies within Syria, the Ba’th Party in particular, to the country's increasingly neutralist trajectory is closely analyzed, as is the distinction made by most Syrian ideologues between the nonalignment in international alliances that they were advocating and their rejection of Soviet-style communism as a socioeconomic system. The study gives great emphasis to identifying the different shades or nuances of neutralism espoused in the Arab world at different points in time: for example, initially a ‘calculative-pragmatic nationalist neutralism’ aimed at using Great Power rivalries to achieve local nationalist goals, somewhat later the ‘anti-Western neutralism’ fuelled particularly by Arab resentment over Western policy in regard to Palestine, and later the ‘positive neutralism’ of the UAR that attempted to use the Cold War to Arab advantage. The sections on India's seminal role in the emergence of post-World War II neutralism and in the Afro-Asian nonaligned movement, based as they are on a rich assemblage of Indian primary materials, are extremely valuable in their situating Arab neutralist tendencies in the wider global context in which they emerged and by which they were influenced. These and other strengths make the work an important contribution and a worthwhile read for all those interested in post World War II Arab politics.” James P. Jankowsky (University of Colorado, Boulder), International Journal of Middle East Studies (2006).
 

“By situating the evolution of Syrian politics within a global framework that incorporates the diplomatic positions of emerging nations of the so-called Third World – particularly India, Egypt, Yugoslavia, and Indonesia – Ginat demonstrates the multifaceted face of neutralism that simultaneously united and divided nations seeking an alternative "third path" within the ideological struggle of the Cold War …

While previous interpretations of Arab neutralism stress the inter-Arab national politics that determined how leaders positioned their states within the polarizing context of the Cold War, Ginat shows how inter-bloc politics involving other nonaligned, non-Arab states such as India, Yugoslavia, and China played an equally important role in conditioning a nation's particular brand of neutralism at a given time. Neutralism evolved in Syria as a reflection of what Ginat calls the "utilitarian considerations" of the nation, especially following the end of World War II when Syrian leaders searched for legitimacy in the international scene and cultivated short-term national partnerships with other emerging nations. In a larger sense, Ginat shows how neutralism developed among non-aligned nations as a reflection of the "local conditions, political heritage and tradition, and special needs," of each county (p. xiv). With an eye for the dynamic between ideas and policy, Ginat questions the degree to which neutralist positions were the demonstration of an engrained ideology, or simply the ad hoc result of realpolitik. Based on the narrative he presents, the reader is left to conclude that Syrian foreign policy initially reflected the former, while slipping ever closer to the latter over time …

Ginat's goal of situating Syrian political history in a wider context of dialogue among non-aligned nations is a welcome development in the literature ... the general political narrative between 1945 and 1962 is meticulously researched and his claims concerning the early emergence of neutralist tendencies are supported by overwhelming evidence (diplomatic communiques, speeches, and public records) drawn from archives in Britain, the US, Israel, Poland, and India… Rami Ginat's work is a considerable addition to the literature on the period and a worthwhile read for any student of Syrian history and Cold War politics in the Middle East.” Adam Guerin (Eckerd College, Florida) Insight Turkey, Vol. 13 / No. 3 / 2011