The post-independence era in the Arab world witnessed many false starts. Baathism, which emerged as a doctrine in the 1940s and ended up as the governing ideology of Iraq and Syria for decades, preached a secular, socialist model that attracted many elites but ultimately failed to win over the masses as it increasingly adopted an exclusionary, brutal discourse and failed to improve the common man’s quality of life.

Nasserism in Egypt succeeded in rallying people around a common cause of pan-Arabism and the fight for Palestine, but the 1967 war shattered all such dreams and paved the way for the rise of political Islam as an alternative. Baathism and Nasserism failed to advance an effective, pluralistic program that improved people’s lives; both were eventually discredited across the Arab world.

The Arab world’s cultural, ethnic and religious diversity should be regarded as a strength rather than a weakness. And that means governments must foster a sense of citizenship that values diversity, rather than a narrow form of nationalism that emphasizes the pre-eminence of certain groups over others.

First, national education systems need to be reinvented. Teaching subservience and devotion to an all-powerful leader or group should be supplanted by an allegiance to the nation. Humans have a well-developed sense of “us” and “them.” But respect for ethnic and religious diversity is glaringly lacking. Without the intellectual building blocks of pluralistic, democratic societies, it will be difficult to overcome destructive sectarian reflexes.

Second, the rule of law must apply to all; the majority group and minorities must be treated equally. A common theme among all the uprisings in different Arab countries has been social justice. For years, a rentier system in which favors are given to some in exchange for loyalty, at the expense of all, has governed most of the Arab world. As a result, most people don’t feel that their citizenship is enough to allow them to advance in life based on their own merit. Most have resorted to several sub-identities — religious, tribal or geographic — as a more effective way for their grievances to be addressed. So long as there is no equality before the law for all citizens — Christians or Muslims, Sunni or Shiite, Arab or Kurd, men or women — people will resort to narrow forms of tribalism.

Third, the freedom to be different must be legally protected. While it was understandable that most Arab publics wanted to expedite elections and the constitution-writing process, it’s vital that the basic rules of the game are agreed on first before developing a constitution (unless these rights are already embedded in it). Enshrining these freedoms early on will both ensure a smoother transition process and reassure all citizens that their basic rights will be protected by the government, and as a result promote a stronger identification with the state.

Strengthening national identities over all other sub-allegiances will not be a quick process. The rising Sunni-Shiite divide in the Arab world is a prime example of how the demons of sectarianism can be roused by opportunistic leaders. But a stronger sense of national identity can eventually lay them to rest.

Marwan Muasher, the former foreign minister of Jordan, is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the author of “The Second Arab Awakening and the Battle for Pluralism.”