heightened sectarianism in the middle east: causes, dynamics ... - Ispi

cal groups, it is hard to find a ‘mainstream’ party which publiclyemphasizes its sectarian identity. Feelings of victimhood are thebasis upon which sectarian ideologies thrive, and these feelingsare widespread in countries ruled by exclusionary regimes whosepopulations are disaffected by failing modernization policies. Tounderstand the heightened sectarianism in the region, it is importantto examine how internal and external elites use it as aninstrument of conflict and influence.©ISPI2013Sectarianism as a Political InstrumentLike all collective narratives, sectarian identities need elites and‘guardians’ who ‘invent’ and present them to be the “group’s mentalmaps” 8 . Heightened sectarianism in the region was accompaniedby processes of reinventing Sunni and Shi’a identities andthese processes have intensified proportionally with regional conflicts.The downfall of Saddam’s regime after the US-British occupationof Iraq was a pivotal event. It not only indicated a transformationin the internal political sphere and regional power relations, butwas also a categorical departure from the classical concepts andnarratives that shaped national ideology in Iraq and other MiddleEastern countries. One major shift was the quasi-official presenceof sectarian identities as public and valid political categories. A significantoutcome of this war was the empowerment of Iraqi Shi’as. This‘Shi’a revival’, as Vali Nasr (2006) 9 put it, was represented by thedominant position Shi’a political groups have gained within the newinstitutions or through the role played by their collective narratives inshaping public stances and national culture. Furthermore, the newShi’a political parties that gained this influence adopted a politicalview which stressed their sectarian identity, further deepening Sunnisuspicions 10 . This not only sent alarming messages to the ruling Sunnielites in the region, but also encouraged the formation of a countersectarianidentity among Iraqi Sunnis 11 .Moreover, the uncertain environment caused by the uprisings in severalArab countries has accelerated the dynamics of regional sectarianization.The protests by the ‘Shi’a’ majority in Bahrain and uprising8D.A. SMITH, Myths and Memories of the Nation, New York, Oxford UniversityPress, 1999.9V. NASR, The Shia Revival: How conflict Within Islam Will Shape the Future,New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2006.10F. HADDAD, Sectarianism in Iraq: Antagonistic Visions of Unity, London,C.Curst & Co., 2011.11H. AL-QARAWEE, The Rise of Sunni Identity, «The National Interest», 5 April2013, http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/sunni-identitys-rise-iraq-8314.The Syrian civil war seemsto have taken on asectarian nature, withShi’a countries like Iranand armed groups likeHizbullah backing theregime, Sunni countrieslike Saudi Arabia, Turkeyand Qatar backing theopposition, and groups likethe Al‐Qa’ida‐affiliated –the Islamic State in Iraqand Syria ISIS – fightingagainst the regime6