Domination, Self-Empowerment, Accommodation

Abstract

This chapter studies the religious minorities in the contemporary, post-colonial context. It aims at throwing light on the minorities' situation today. The analysis of the majority-minority relations and the minorities' responses to the challenges of domination is carried out in light of some of the major political and social events which have shaped the region up to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Another distinctive feature of the chapter lies in its dealing with both non-Muslim and Muslim minorities. The relationship between religious majorities and minorities in the Middle East is often construed in terms of a stark opposition between active domination and passive submission. In the Middle East, the phrase 'religious minorities' has long been used to refer only to non-Muslim populations. Borrowing from Hirschman (1970), several authors describe emigration as 'exit', the alternative strategy to 'voice' and 'loyalty'. Keywords:Middle East; Muslim; religious minorities