The sectarianization of the Middle East : transnational identity wars and competitive interference

Abstract

What explains the rapid diffusion and apparent hegemony of sectarian discourse and practices across the MENA region? This paper will survey the accumulation of factors behind the sectarian surge and on that basis will argue that it is chiefly the outcome of the state failures brought about by the Arab spring: first, state failures have greatly intensified power struggles within states and across the region in which sectarianism has been instrumentalized; secondly such failures have greatly intensified the pre-existing permeability of states, thereby greatly amplifying mechanisms of diffusion, from emulation to intervention.