Sectarian Politics Research Articles

Roots of Lebanon’s Sectarian Politics

This paper contends that the French Mandate significantly contributed to the institutionalisation of sectarianism in post-colonial Lebanese politics, and it investigates the Mandate’s enduring impacts on confessional governance. Building on existing research on the legacies of the Mandate and the development of sectarianism in Lebanon, the paper explores the Mandate’s roots of Lebanon’s sectarian politics. The analysis examines religious biases by the colonial administration and the National Pact of 1943. By doing so, this paper argues that the political representation in Lebanon can be traced back to sectarian connotations through religious quotas in the parliamentary system, patronage networks, and the fragmentation of Lebanese identity. This phenomenon is known as sectarianisation—a term that is used when political representatives exploit sectarian grudges within the population to acquire power. While other factors play a role in the development of sectarianisation, this paper argues that the French Mandate functions as the primary catalyst in the institutionalisation of sectarianism in Lebanon. Consequently, the central research question this paper seeks to answer is: What are the legacies of the French Mandate on the sectarianisation of post-colonial Lebanese politics?

Neither secular nor sectarian: perspectives on social life and politics among Beirut's religiously devout youth

Abstract This paper explores the following question: How does individual religiosity and attachment to a religious community relate to sectarian political loyalties or interpersonal prejudices in a post-conflict, institutionally sectarianized society? The paper explores this question through dialectic, participatory methods with youth involved in community-based youth associations with a religious component. The paper investigates how religiously devout youth in Lebanon conceptualize the personal and communal elements of their religiosity in relation to sectarian politics. In this way, the paper contributes to a study of social sectarianism, in which scholars are striving to understand what individuals mean when they speak about sect, and how discussions surrounding sect mask more complex underlying social realities. Overall, these accounts suggest that personal and social religiosity both positively influence anti-sectarian political outlook among participants, while other factors, such as the institutional sectarianization of public life and a history of violent conflict maintain participants' default attachment to co-sectarian networks in terms of routine, economic security, and communal belonging.

Critical junctures, labour unions, and social dialogue in Tunisia and Lebanon: Implications for the social contract

ABSTRACT This paper examines the evolution of social dialogue institutions in Lebanon and Tunisia between 2010 and 2017. Both countries faced critical junctures, but their institutions pursued divergent courses. The national social dialogue institution was revamped in Tunisia to increase participation in policymaking, whereas it was reinstated in Lebanon without addressing its institutional flaws. By building on these developments, this paper makes two theoretical contributions. First, it argues that the nature of political interference in organized labour prior to the critical juncture influences its subsequent role. Labour neutralization in Lebanon was founded on sectarian politics that co-opted national leadership and bound rank-and-file to sectarian clientelism. Labour pacification in Tunisia harmed executives, whereas local unionists remained independent. After the critical juncture, Tunisian organized labour revitalized itself, aided by rank-and-file autonomy. It then made a strategic choice to reconsolidate the tripartite system with enhanced involvement of the traditional labour and capital organizations in policymaking. Lebanese organized labour was unchallenged by its rank-and-file. It maintained ties with political elites. Second, these paths illustrate the differences between social contracts. Participation in policy elaboration is among the deliverables exchanged between political elites and social actors in Tunisia but not in Lebanon.

NGOization and Politicization of Aid

Abstract This paper focuses on the political economy of aid to determine its impact on Lebanon’s politics of sectarianism. I approach NGOization as a political process that normalizes a situation where citizens are accustomed to functioning without the state, and as an economic process creating a parallel economy. Both trends have expanded with the current crisis. I posit that politics of sectarianism feeds on NGOization: they allow sectarian elites to outsource aid, manage discontent and depoliticize ngo s and cso s, while silencing potential challenges to their order. Thus, organizations aiming to transform the political system lack visibility and leverage, while their space of operation has been shrinking. I also explore the role of international aid on the continuity and durability of the Lebanese state and its neo-patrimonial and clientelist governance mode. NGOization is further reinforced by the fact that national ngo s have been co-opted by foreign donors, which has the effect of depoliticizing their discourse and action.

Lebanon’s Endemic Power-Sharing Dilemmas and their Manifestation in the Beirut Blast

Abstract This article examines how Lebanon’s power-sharing arrangements, embedded within the politics of sectarianism, entrench “recurring dilemmas” that undermine political change, reform, and accountability. The three dilemmas uncovered in this article include the propensity of Lebanon’s power-sharing system to political deadlock, its institutionalization of impunity, as well as its veritable disconnect from grassroots demands. This article focuses on the case of the Beirut blast and demonstrates how the tragedy represents a microcosm of the convergence of these power-sharing dilemmas. The analysis highlights the limitations of Lebanon’s power-sharing system. It suggests that as long as the current sectarian power-sharing system remains in place, the system’s endemic dilemmas will continue to manifest and preclude meaningful reform, effective policy making and justice.

Sectarianism Begets Diversity; A Study on the Sectoral Divides in Islam in the Middle East

Middle East is the native land of world’s well-known creeds and different faiths ruled the Arabian Peninsula in the ancient and modern history. Islam was born in the Middle East in the 6th century and soon it became the religious conviction of majority in the region. This study investigates the complex dynamics of sectarianism within Islam in the Middle East, analysing how these differences contribute to the cultural and intellectual diversity within the Muslim world. This study conducts a thorough examination of historical circumstances, socio-political influences, and religious beliefs to explore the beginnings and development of sectarian differences. It specifically examines how these divisions have affected regional stability, the construction of identity, and geopolitical interactions. The research explores the intricate nature of Sunni-Shia disputes and the rise of other sects, revealing the interplay between religious diversity and socioeconomic dynamics in the area. Ultimately, it asserts that comprehending these sectarian divisions is essential for cultivating mutual understanding and advancing peace within the diverse fabric of Islamic culture. There are more than 15 different sub sects in the Middle East and each camp plays a vital role in the politics of Middle East. Sectarian politics is an indispensable phenomenon in the Middle East.

A Century of Changing Perceptions of "Christian Militias" in Iraq

This article traces the history of Iraq's Assyrian Christians in armed struggle from the second half of the twentieth century to the contemporary era. It argues that, while "Christian militias" are not a new phenomenon, their modes of engage ment in sectarian politics are new and representative of Iraq in the aftermath of the 2003 United States–led invasion. By contrast, during the twentieth century, and particularly during the rule of the Ba'th Party (1968–2003), Assyrian activists were involved in secular and leftist political movements confronting the regime from within the larger Iraqi opposition. The history of this earlier, foundational period is contextualized to make sense of the sectarian politics of the post-2003 period. I make use of archival sources retrieved from Baghdad and Mosul as well as oral interviews, periodicals, memoirs, and songs in both Arabic and Aramaic.

The Gulf and its foreign policies

The nine states of the Persian Gulf and Arabian Peninsula – Iran, Iraq, Yemen and the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – are bound together in a regional system but not a security community. Four major conflicts in the region since 1980 have contributed to a volatile set of relationships which feed into perceptions of risk, threat and interest, and have shaped the conduct of foreign, defence and security policy-making accordingly. Other factors, such as revolutionary upheaval, sectarian politics and the roles of non-state actors as well as external powers, have added to an already combustible mix and made it harder to reach consensus on key issues of foreign policy. This article examines the foreign policy landscape in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Peninsula and assesses a range of factors which determine the context in which measures are framed, formulated and implemented. There are two major parts to this article. An opening section argues that the myriad connections among the nine states together constitute a definable sub-regional complex, to adapt the concept developed by Barry Buzan and Ole Waever, and as evidenced by the patterns of conflict in recent decades, albeit one based on an imbalance of conventional forms of power in which three larger states coexist alongside five smaller ones with Yemen separate yet intimately linked. This leads into a second section which explores the many interconnections which have provided the contextual backdrop to the conduct of foreign policy-making in regional states over the past four decades, and which continue to resonate today. The article focuses throughout on the linkages between domestic and foreign policy and between perceptions of interest at national and regional levels as guiding factors for policy-makers in each of the states involved.

Sünnîlik ve Şiîlik Temelinde Emir Timur’un Mezhep Siyaseti

Amīr Tīmūr won the struggle for dominance of the Chagatai society, one of the four parts that emerged after the Mongol Empire was disintegrated. He established his rule-based in Samarkand in the second half of the 14th century. Amīr Tīmūr's struggle with the dynasties formed with the dissolution of Ilkhanid domination in the Khorasan lands, where he expanded his sovereignty after 1370 when he came to power and occupied an important part of his political life. Since Khorasan is an area where Islamic sects spread and settled, it is known as a geography where sectarian conflicts are not lacking and the states establishing administration in the region face problems. While Tīmūr wanted to seize Khorasan to rebuild the Ilkhanid throne, he abolished Shiite dynasties such as Serbedarīs and Marashis and Sunni dynasties such as Kerts and Muzaffarīs. However, he gave an image of supporting Sunnism in his struggle with the Shiites. Similarly, with its harsh attitude towards Hurufis, who originated from Shiism, it did not recognize any movement that it thought was harmful to Sunnism. After capturing the lands of Chaghatay and Īlkhānate, he made expeditions to another Mongolian nation, Altınorda. His campaigns in Anatolia, Syria, and Iraq regions outside the Mongolian zone caused him to come face to face with the states in the area. Based on the practices of Tīmūr, who lost his life in 1405 when he launched his last expedition on China, during his military and political activities, many opinions have been put forward about his understanding of religion and sect. The fact that different interpretations were made due to Tīmūr's personality and religious life and that no study on this subject in the history of sects prompted us to investigate this issue. In this study, we aimed to reveal Amīr Tīmūr's approach to sects and his effects on the political activities he continued throughout his rule. In our study, we benefited from the Zafarnamas of Nizamaddin Shami and Ali Yazdī, who are historians of the Tīmūrid period, and the works of Aja’ib al-Maqdur by İbni Arabshah and the an-Nujum al-Zahirah of the Mamluk Historian Ibn Taghribirdi. We also examined the studies on Feridun Bey Munshaat, in which his correspondence with Sultan Bayezid was recorded. In addition, studies and copyrighted works with the History of Tīmūr were also used. As a result of our examination, it has been seen that Amīr Tīmūr's activities, beyond the religious and sectarian concerns, benefited from all kinds of situations to realize the aim of absolute domination with the influence of the understanding of Turkish and Mongolian sovereignty. While he was seen as the protector of Sunnism against the Shiites in the Khorasan region, he also eliminated the Sunni dynasties in the region. He organized expeditions to the lands of Altınorda, which was also Sunni. Therefore, it is seen that he built the aforementioned regions to unite the Mongol lands directly, not because of the problem arising from any religion and sect. The reason why he abolished the Shiite dynasties in Khorasan and Mazandaran is that they caused problems against the sovereignty of the Shiites. It is understood that he put his political goals on a religious basis by introducing himself as ulū al-amr in his struggle against Sunni dynasties in the Near East, where he launched a campaign for different reasons, such as the Ottoman and Mamluks. Therefore, it is seen that Amīr Tīmūr's military activities were due to political reasons rather than the influence of the Sunni Islam belief. In addition, his support of Sunni scholars and clergy, as well as the Seljuks during his rule, establishing religious offices and bringing Sunnis to these positions, and bringing the Sunni creed to the forefront through the opened madrasas paved the way for the development of Sunnism. In terms of the history of the sects, it has been seen that Ash'arism, which gained strength with the influence of the Nizamiya Madrasahs opened in the Seljuk period, left its place to the Transoxiana-centered Maturidism during the reign of Tīmūr and his successors. * This study was prepared based on the Master's thesis titled “Amīr Tīmūr’s Sectarian Politics based on Sunnism and Shiism”, which was continued under the supervision of Associate Professor Hasan Gümüşoğlu (Yalova: Yalova University, Institute of Graduate Studies, Master Thesis, 2023).

Measuring Network Polarization and Political Sectarianism During the 2020 Pandemic

Online social networks are at the limelight of the public debate, where antagonistic groups compete to impose conflicting narratives and polarize the discussions. This article proposes an approach for measuring network polarization and political sectarianism in Twitter based on user interaction networks. Centrality metrics identify a small group of influential users (polarizers and unpolarizers) who influence a larger group of users (polarizees and unpolarizees) according to their ideological stance (left, right, and undefined). This network polarization is computed by the Bayesian probability using typical actions such as following, tweeting, retweeting, and replying. The measurement of political sectarianism also uses Bayesian probability and words extracted from the tweets to quantify the intensity of othering, aversion, and moralization in the debate. We collected Twitter data from 33 conflicted political events in Brazil during 2020, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on our methodology and polarization score, our results reveal that the approach based on user interaction networks leads to an increasing understanding of polarized conflicts in Twitter. Also, a small number of polarizers is enough to represent the polarization and sectarianism of Twitter events.

Civil Society Organizations, the Good Friday Agreement, and the Northern Ireland Peace Process

Abstract A qualitative methodology was used to interview 120 participants from 2010 and 29 participants from 2020 who shared their experiences and perceptions about the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) and their peacebuilding work. Longitudinal findings reveal that the participants were critical of the Agreement and the disconnect between politicians and the grassroots as well as recognizing that the Agreement has brought about relative peace in Northern Ireland. While the participants attest to the relative success of the GFA, they also note several criticisms including sectarian politics, new paramilitaries, Brexit, legacy of the past, continuing divisions in Northern Ireland, and the disconnect between politicians and local community peacebuilders. The participants’ criticisms are significant as they attest that while the social peace at the grassroots level is moving forward the political peace is not as evidenced by the recent Unionist backlash against Brexit.

Political Sectarianism Within America: The Rise of Political Division

Political sectarianism is a concern for several countries, but it is especially prevalent within the United States. Concerns grow over political polarization due to how strongly Democrats and Republicans ideologically diverge on political values and policy goals. Due to the rise of polarizing issues like COVID-19 and new technologies that provide additional platforms for the spread of information, political divides in America have increased at unprecedented rates in the past few decades. Political divides have also caused problems within the social aspect of American society. The situation has become so severe that people purposefully isolate themselves from people of the opposing party, ruining families and friendships. Within this paper, various causes and effects of political sectarianism have been identified in order to determine why the rapid growth of political divides are occuring.

The State of Consociationalism in Lebanon

Deploying a critical juncture agency approach, this paper undertakes a genealogy of the adoption of consociationalism at colonial state formation in Lebanon to compare different consociational experiences as actually existing processes. It also aims to amplify the effects of variations in the sequencing of state formation and the adoption of consociationalism on state forms and political trajectories in the original European cases and in postcolonial contexts. Formal consociational arrangements in the European cases emerged after a long process of state formation that overlapped with state building and created substantial cross-pressures at the organizational levels that, in turn, militated for moderation and later de-pillarization. By contrast, in Lebanon, the postcolonial and postwar elite instrumentalized consociationalism to capture state institutions and resources to stymie state building (or rebuilding) and produce (or reproduce) sectarian politics. Unlike the experiences of the classic European states, then, and by capturing the institutions and political economy of the state in the name of power sharing and mutual coexistence as it was being formed during colonial state formation—or rebuilt during the postwar moment—the sectarian political elite denied the state any role in interest group intermediation, thus blocking the very possibility of de-pillarization and de-consociation.

Long-term effects of sectarian politics: evidence from Lebanon

Abstract We examine the effect of sectarian politics in the presence of weak state capacity on long-term economic growth. To this end, we exploit the 1956 civil uprising between Maronite Christian and Sunni Muslim factions in Lebanon to estimate the impact of sectarian political tensions on long-term growth. To isolate the impact of the uprising, we use synthetic control estimator and match Lebanon’s pre-1956 growth and development trajectory with the rest of the world where such uprising did not occur, and estimate the counterfactual growth trajectory in the hypothetical absence of the sectarian conflict. Our evidence indicates large and pervasive negative growth effects of factionalism. Our estimates imply that Lebanon’s per capita income down to the present day is on average 57% lower than that of its pre-1956 synthetic control group without sectarian clashes, and does not seem to be driven by preexisting or subsequent trends and shocks. The negative long-term growth effect of sectarian conflict is robust to a battery of spatial and temporal placebo checks, choice of samples and is not sensitive to the composition of control groups.

Polarization in the Spanish press: A study of political sectarianism during the COVID-19 pandemic

Drawing on the concept of “political sectarianism” proposed by Finkel et al. and on Entman’s classification of media biases, this paper aims to study polarization in three mainstream Spanish news websites, i.e. El País, El Mundo and Abc, during the COVID-19 pandemic through a cross-sectional analysis. For that purpose, a corpus of 900 articles was gathered during June 2020, following the end of the state of emergency and the strict lockdown enforced by the central government to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis relies on concepts used by communication and discourse analysts, i.e. framing and narratives. I have also drawn on the work of Bednarek on semantic choices. The study, which focuses on the headlines and the leads, shows that El Mundo and Abc were more critical of the central government’s handling of the health crisis, while El País was critical of Madrid’s conservative government. This points to the existence of distortion and content bias in the three newspapers. However, the most significant finding is the fact that El País is the only medium that clearly opted for a selection bias, omitting any news that could have been construed as critical of the central coalition government.

History repeats itself: uncovering recurring patterns in Sudanese politics

Following its independence in 1956, Sudan confronted the tasks of constructing a distinct national identity, establishing effective governance and economic systems, and addressing internal ethnic conflicts stemming from the condominium era. In terms of ethnicity, the post-colonial history of Sudan can be segmented into two phases: sectarian politics, primarily observed in northern Sudan from 1956 to 1999, with the south not experiencing sectarianism in the same manner; and ethnic politics prevalent in South Sudan from 1955 to 2011 and in North Sudan from 1999 to the present. However, the postcolonial history of Sudan is actually a replay of a set of patterns that kept governing the politics of the country for centuries.

Entrepreneurial activism

AbstractAgainst what they considered the immoral politics of sectarianism, leading activists in Lebanon in the 2010s combined entrepreneurialism and activism to animate systemic change and build an effective nation‐state. In doing so, they created an ethicopolitical subjectivity that I call entrepreneurial activism. Entrepreneurial activists articulated an ethical politics that celebrated patriotic citizens who work autonomously on both individual moralities and political structures. Examining activist biographical accounts that tied entrepreneurialism to imaginations of change and revolution in Lebanon, this ethnography reveals both the possibilities and limitations of the middle‐class politics of entrepreneurial activism. Translocal encounters between the middle class, the aspirational middle class, and the returning diaspora entangled globalized projects of active citizenship and social entrepreneurship with lived experiences of war and leftist legacies in Lebanon. Fostering social mobilization and new ways of doing politics, entrepreneurial activism is a compelling case in which moral and political imaginations co‐constitute each other, and in which entrepreneurialism cannot be reduced to neoliberalism.

Managing Multicultural Society in Indonesia

This paper attempts to employ several concepts develop in the west to resolve social and political conflict in a multicultural society. The concept of interculturalism recently proposed as an alternative to the concept of multiculturalism and its related policy considered as a failure will be reviewed to get the perspective to view multicultural problems in Jakarta. In the wake of a recent local election, Jakarta has been rocked by a series of demonstration by Islamic groups against Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) the Jakarta’s mayor, a Chinese-Christian that accused to denigrate Islam in one of his speech. After a heated campaign from both sides, Basuki who run for the second term controversially lost in a small margin to Anis Baswedan, his rival, an Arabic descent and a Muslim. The election was highly contentious as the supporter of Anies aggressively using Islam as the rallying cry to defeat Ahok. The political development that shows the increasing political pressures from the Islamic groups alarmingly polarized the population into sectarian politics and breaking up the previously multi-cultural coexistence. The multi-cultural issues in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, a Muslim majority country, could provide a good case of problem in governing a culturally diverse country, in the non-Western society. What is the hindrance in employing the Western concept, particularly citizenship, given the different historical trajectory for such an urban multicultural society like Jakarta? The paper would like to contribute into the debate on the problem of multicultural society from the experience of a non-Western country.

Doctrinaire Schism and the Politics of Religious Sectarianism in Islam: Understanding the Root Cause of Sectarian and Religious Terrorism in the Middle-East and North Africa

The current difficulties and insurgency in Islamic states in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) led this study to examine why this region has seen more volatility than any other region today. Furthermore, the unusual nature of the insurgency and turmoil in this region, particularlywhere Muslims oppose Muslims and Muslim regimes, makes one ask what is the cause. As a result,this study has attempted to analyze today’s Muslim divisions through the lens of schisms in doctrinesand beliefs, which always lead to sectarian divisions. This paper takes a historical journey into the pastto explore the origins of the schisms and their consequences. The emergence of many ulama (or Ayatollahs and Sheikhs) shortly after the Prophet’s death and over the centuries of Islamic religion, each with own claim to piety, teachings, and illuminations, has led to the emergence of many sects, each claiming to be more pious than the others and adhering to the precepts, teachings, and examples laid down in the Qur’an and set by Muhammad. The fundamental differences in ideas and interpretations are what have fueled and generated today’s sectarian and religious difficulties and instability in MENA. As a result, this instability may continue for many years to come, especially when one group sees theothers not only as apostates, but also as an infidels who are divinely intended to be exterminated.

Disseminating the living story: promoting youth awareness of Lebanon contested heritage

ABSTRACT This article introduces an intervention framework to build the capacity of Lebanese youth to participate in effectively preserving Beirut’s heritage. Despite the current sectarian politics, enabling the youth to voice their narratives of the lived everyday contestation could herald their substantial contribution to the city’s urban reconciliation and peace-making process with the past. Through interviews and focus groups within the wider academic community, NGOs, and activists in Lebanon, the youth reflected on their interpretations of contestation and which elements of the local contested heritage are authentic. We argue that such authenticity is gained through lived space and experience, as we engage with emerging work that grasps authenticity as a subject of performance, negotiation, and experience.