The Coronavirus Is Exacerbating Sectarian Tensions in the Middle East

The novel coronavirus is advancing across the Middle East, straining frail public health services and exacerbating preexisting political and sectarian tensions, both within states and between regional rivals.

Muslim Pilgrimage in the Modern World | Babak Rahimi | University of North Carolina Press

Pilgrimage is one of the most significant ritual duties for Muslims, entailing the visitation and veneration of sites associated with the Prophet Muhammad or saintly figures. As demonstrated in this multidisciplinary volume, the lived religion of pilgrimage, defined by embodied devotional practices, is changing in an age characterized by commerce, technology, and new sociocultural and political frameworks.

Defying authority: Arab, Russia and Pakistan protesters learn lessons of 2011

The degree to which Sudanese protesters are willing to implement lessons learnt from the 2011 revolts will be determined by their willingness and ability to sustain their protests in the face of violence. The opposition this week rejected an offer by General Al-Burhan to reopen negotiations and hold elections within nine months.

Untold Stories, The Suffering of Shia Muslims – Shia Rights Watch

Annual report of Anti-Shiism around the Globe This report reflects investigative work Shia Rights Watch staff undertook in 2018 Shia Rights Watch 2018 Annual Report_2 Size: 1.37 mb Format : PDF Preview Introduction Parallel to the rise of coverage of the Shia identity came to an increased need for recognition for the dynamics of …

Special issue of Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (19/1, April, 2019) on the ‘Nexus between Sectarianism and Regime Formation in a New Middle East’.

Edited by Morten Valbjørn and Raymond Hinnebusch

This special issue of Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (vol 19,1) explores the nexus between sectarianism and regime formation in a ‘new Middle East.’

More specifically, it examines a) how sectarianism impacts on the trajectories of different types of regime over time (with the main – but not exclusive – focus being on their location along the authoritarian/democratic continuum), b) whether different kinds of regime dilute or inflame sectarian identities and animosities, c) whether the study of regime formation in a sectarian context requires distinct analytical tools, or whether we can stick to the already existing approaches from the (post)democratization tradition.

All articles of the special issues examine how sectarianism and regime formation/type might be inter-related, though in different ways: they cover different regime types (authoritarian republics, monarchies, and semi-democracies), both Shia- and Sunni-majority countries, countries with and without a Shia/Sunni schism at home, and geographical areas ranging from the Gulf to the Levant, and in addition to these intra-regional comparisons the Middle East is moreover compared with other regions. The studies also differ in their methodology, ranging from a large-N study to comparative snapshots of similar dynamics in several country cases in order to test and demonstrate issues such as the relative power of sectarianism, and longitudinal case studies showing the interaction of sectarian configurations and regime change over time.

The special issue is linked to the interdisciplinary research project SWAR: Sectarianism in the Wake of the Arab Revolts at Aarhus University (www.ps.au.dk/swar).

Morten Valbjørn and Raymond Hinnebusch Exploring the Nexus between Sectarianism and Regime Formation in a New Middle East: Theoretical Points of Departure

Lasse Lykke Rørbæk Religion, Political Power, and the ‘Sectarian Surge’: Middle Eastern Identity Politics in Comparative Perspective

Raymond Hinnebusch Sectarianism and Governance in Syria

Adham Saouli Sectarianism and Political Order in Iraq and Lebanon

Courtney Freer The Symbiosis of Sectarianism, Authoritarianism, and Rentierism in the Saudi State

Hasan Hafidh and Thomas Fibiger Civic Space and Sectarianism in the Gulf States: The Dynamics of Informal Civil Society in Kuwait and Bahrain beyond State Institutions

Morten Valbjørn What’s so Sectarian about Sectarian Politics? Identity Politics and Authoritarianism in a New Middle East

The Middle East’s Great Divide Is Not Sectarianism

The spectre of sectarianism haunts the Middle East. It is blamed for chaos, conflict, and extremism. It defines what is seen as the region’s principal fault line: Sunni versus Shiite. It has the power and elegance of a grand theory that seemingly explains all.

Countering Sectarianism in the Middle East

What factors make a community resilient to sectarianism? How can communities recover from sectarianism and associated violence? How can the international community promote resilience to sectarianism? Sectarianism has become a destructive feature of the modern Middle East.

‘Die If Necessary’; Targeted Afghan Minority Prepares to Fight

Shiite Syria-war veterans are ready to answer the call of community leaders to protect the Kabul neighborhood that is home to Afghanistan’s largest concentration of the minority sect.

Incidents of Anti-Shiism in June 2018 – Shia Rights Watch

Anti-Shiism is extended to June, and compared to May, the number of people killed and wounded has almost tripled. With 206 cases of anti-Shiism, Shia Muslims continue to be under attack in countries like Bahrain, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Syria. Shia Muslims have faced inhuman outcomes of discrimination with sentencing, arrests, anti-Shia speech, …

Saudi effort to isolate Iran internationally produces results

Saudi efforts to isolate Iran internationally are producing results in North Africa and Central Asia. Authorities and religious leaders in Tajikistan and Algeria have in recent weeks accused Iran of subversive activity and propagating Shiism while Morocco last month announced that it was breaking off diplomatic relations with the Islamic republic.