Posted: September 9th, 2022

Integrating Tribes Into Nations

Integrating Tribes Into Nations

Introduction
It is very difficult to unite different clans into nation-states. In the current world, everyone is struggling to be above the other and nowhere else is the struggle so contested than when it comes to political power. Having political power guarantees one the control over other spheres of life and economy. As it is the case in the Arab countries for instance Yemen and Iraq, almost every group is struggling to be recognized as the superior amongst all the existing factions (Arango, 2014). Even regions that profess the same religion, it becomes hard to bring them together in any other way other than for religious purposes. Everyone fights for recognition (Arango, 2014) and this explains the difficulty in creating independent states from tribal clans. The divisions based on clans and tribes not only make it hard to establish a unified state but also throw the history of a nation into uncertainty as to the occurrence of events. No clan wants the other clan to get credit for the success of a nation.
Among the main challenges facing unification of different tribes is the organization of these clans into groups sometimes occupying different geographical regions with their own leaders that they trust. Every clan was proud to be associated with those who appeared successful in the history and a slight variation of what they believed in precipitated animosity and hatred (Shryock, 1995). An explanation of a prominent photo by two different clans revealed the foregoing as one clan, the Nimr, associated itself with prominent shaykh yet another clan also believed the shaykhs on the photo came from its clan, the Salih clan. No clan or tribe was ready to accept that the other clan was the leading clan or something like that. Instead, these two tribes of Nimr and Salih kept on lying to themselves in a bid to promote short-lived believe in fake history (Shryock, 1977). This could be seen when one old photo could be used to represent two different clans. In such an environment, no clan would praise what does not come from its tribe hence the difficulty of uniting these tribes as one country with one historical narrative.
In the Iraqi region, the same problem existed in that no clan wished to embrace the other clans rule. Every faction had its own beliefs and objectives to the extent that each region had its own flag (Arango, 2014). Additionally, soldiers working for the same Iraqi government defied the same government’s orders to have one flag as a symbol of unity. Students were also on their own in regions occupied by the Kurds. Evidently, this is a reflection of the cold wars and undertones that are ongoing in a country purporting to be a state. Further, it seems that while other citizens were ready and willing to be subjected to the rule of a political government, others were opposed to this and stuck to their religious teachings by clinging to the teachings of their Sheiks (Arango, 2014). Therefore, the fact that Sheiks represent different groups in different regions implies that it would become extremely difficult to unite all the Sheiks together and agree on one to serve as the overall authority.
Many tribes and religious inclinations in a country with no common goal other than fulfilling their own human obligations to their creator cannot unite for a common goal that they don’t believe in. This is possible especially in a country where one tribe has been imposing orders on people such as Iraq without taking into consideration the importance of uniting the tribes. As such, it becomes difficult to command loyalty from segregated tribes (Brehony, 2015). While it may seem hard to form a government in a tribal nation, it is actually simple if the leaders given the mantle move with speed to form an inclusive government. However, because of the greedy nature of some leaders, they focus on winning elective seats regardless of the means and this is what brews trouble in many tribal states. A state like Yemen had co-existed peacefully until the divide and rule tactic was imposed and some clans felt sidelined (Brehony, 2015).
Further, the reason why forming a nation in a fully tribal country could be hard is because of the conservative nature of some tribes. While some may not wish to be associated with non-clan members, others are not ready to share other roles or platforms. The result is that everyone sticks to his side and cares less about the other because collaborating would mean leaving his or her tribal ways to follow the ways of a stranger. While it may seem easy to modernize the concept of tribe, it is extremely difficult to assume that tribesmen could easily relinquish their old customs to pave way for some modern definition of who qualifies to be a tribesman. As Adra (1985) suggests, one may be tempted to define a tribesman as someone who is good and hospitable to others, today the definition could be very different in the sense that, a tribesman could be that person who defends the weak from oppression. Consequently, it would be hard, in recent times to form a government in an environment whereby some tribes feel left out as Brehony (2015) suggests.
Conclusion
There are many reasons why integration of pre-modern tribes into independent states could be difficult. Among these reasons, lies the fact that these tribes are under the leadership of different Shaykhs. They are thus loyal to nobody but the Shaykhs and any move to unite them under a different leader may be faced with utmost resistance. Further, there is supremacy struggles between tribes and none amongst the many tribes would be ready to relinquish its quest for power to another tribe or clan. To add on the foregoing, people who believe in different ideologies would be hard to put together as a state. For instance, for those in Iraq, some do not believe in any leadership other than that dictated by religious icons. With that in mind, it therefore means that organizing pre-modern tribal clans into one functional unit with a common goal is an exercise in futility.

References
Adra, N. (1985). The Concept of Tribe in Rural Yemen in Arab Societies Social Sciences Perspectives pp. 275-285. The American University in Cairo Press.
Arango, T. (2014) In struggle for national identity, Iraqis rally around many flags. The New York Times http://nyti.ms/1vh5Ytv
Brehony, N. (2015). The Current Situation in Yemen: Causes and Consequences. The Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre
Shryock, A. J. (1995). Writing Oral History in Tribal Jordan; Developments on The Margins Of Literate Culture ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY Vol. 1 I No 3, June 1995
Shryock A. (1977). Nationalism and The Genealogical Imagination; Oral History And Textual Authority In Tribal Jordan. University Of California Press

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