ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the early history of the organization, its formation and initial developments, with particular focus on the 1948 war with Israel, which was to define the League, as well as drawing upon some of the key colonial, political, and intellectual contexts. It outlines the structures of the League and how they have been added to down the decades. The chapter analysis the impediments and opportunities presented by the origins, structures and influences on the organization, as well as providing an understanding of the League's institutional framework. It examines the envisaged role and purpose of the body in more detail and to explore the Arab League as a polity by focusing on the formal constitution of the new body in terms of both the founding pact of the League of Arab States (LAS) and the institutional structures it created, and how these have developed from birth down to the Arab Spring.
