Suchergebnisse

In recent years work produced on the emergence of ISIS has predominantly focussed upon ideological and tactical dimensions. This chapter takes a different approach to understand the emergence of the group, focussing upon the regulation of life and the concept of sovereignty. Using the theory of Giorgio Agamben, we suggest that Iraq has been existing under a state of exception since 2003 and the establishment of the Coalition Provisional Authority. The state of exception, a political-legal term, allows for the suspension of the norm of the law to preserve the law, but in doing so, marginalises people from politics in a situation referred to as bare life. This chapter argues that ISIS was able to cultivate support from disenfranchised Sunni communities residing within these conditions of bare life, as a consequence of the legal structures established by the CPA and ensuing governments. In addition, we must also consider the role played by informal structures—such as religion and tribalism—to gain a more nuanced understanding of the concept, along with how people then reside in bare life. As the state of exception and bare life continues, the defeat of ISIS will not rid Iraq of violence or extremism.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Note on contributors -- Introduction -- Part I Politics of Sectarianism -- Chapter 1 The Iraqi protests: Sliding into the abyss? (Jinan S. Al-Habbal) -- Chapter 2 Taif at thirty: October 17 as thawra .ala al-.istishraq (Madonna Kalousian) -- Chapter 3 Carl Schmitt's ineffectual exceptionalism in the case of Syria (Samuel Peter Mace) -- Part II Regional Dynamics and Proxies -- Chapter 4 The deal of discontent: Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the nuclear deal (Olivia Glombitza) -- Chapter 5 Securitization of Shi'a to 'violization': A response to the Arab Spring in Bahrain (Samira Nasirzadeh) -- Chapter 6 Bridging ethno-religious divides by proxy? Non-state sponsorship and sectarianism in the case of the Syrian Democrati -- Chapter 7 Saudi Arabia's rhetorical construction of the Houthis as an Iranian proxy (Maria-Louise Clausen) -- Chapter 8 Sectarianism and civil wars in the MENA region (Francesco Belcastro) -- Part III De-Sectarianization -- Chapter 9 Iran's soft power in the Gulf from the Islamic revolution to post-Intra-Gulf crisis and prospects for de-sectarianiza -- Chapter 10 Political and discursive de-sectarianization: Re-ordering Saudi foreign and domestic policy-making (Umer Karim) -- Chapter 11 Institutional faith-based diplomacy and de-sectarianization in the Middle East: How to understand the role of Al-Azh -- Conclusion (Samira Nasirzadeh, Elias Ghazal and Eyad Alrefai) -- Index.

Following the Arab Uprisings, new ways of understanding sectarianism and sect-based differences emerged. But these perspectives, while useful, reduced sectarian identities to a consequence of either primordial tensions or instrumentalised identities. While more recently 'third way' approaches addressed the problems with these two positions, the complexity of secatarian identities within and across states remains unexplored. This book fills the gap in the literature to offer a more nuanced reading of both sectarian identities and also de-sectarianization across the Middle East. To do so, the volume provides a comparative account, looking at Iraq, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon. It examines the ways in which sect-based difference shapes regional politics and vice versa. The book also contributes to burgeoning debates on the role of protest movements in sectarianism. Chapters are split across three main sections: the first looks at sects and states; the second traces the relationship between sects and regional dynamics; and the third examines de-sectarianization, that is, the contestation and destablization of sectarian identities in socio-political life. Each section provides a more holistic understanding of the role of sectarian identities in the contemporary Middle East and shows how sectarian groups operate within and across state borders, and why this has serious implications for the ordering of life across the Middle East.