Suchergebnisse

Conflicts between religious groups are hardly new. But the latest round of sectarian violence arises not from religious doctrine but in large part from the weakness of governments and institutions. (Survival / SWP)

This article examines the territorial aspect of sectarian relations in Iraq. The main argument is that such a territorial component is largely missing in Iraq and that historically, there have been very few attempts to connect sectarian identity in Iraq to specific, more restricted
territories of the country. The article reviews the limited attempts in such a direction, both historically and in the post-2003 atmosphere. Today, federal options exist for governorates to merge into sectarian regions if they prefer to do so. So far, however, neither Sunnis or Shi'ites have
demonstrated any great interest in the creation of such sectarian regions, which can be explained with the historical durability of the Iraq concept as a proto-region in late Ottoman times and the concomitant need to revise the near-omnipresent cliché of Iraq as a completely 'artificial'
product lumped together solely thanks to the actions of industrious British imperialists.

Any explanation of Lebanese pol will be incomplete unless the role of religious att's & org's is taken into account; several aspects of the formal org of gov officially reflect the religious structure of the society. The way in which the pol'al instit's & processes recognize the role of the religious communities are considered, & the degree to which this form of org adequately meets the needs of the society is assessed. Despite the difficulties which a sectarian system would entail, there seems to be no other immediate solution without the dominance of one community over the others. Attention is needed to those ways by which the system could be improved so that through its effective operation it will bring about the satisfaction & confidence which will lessen inter-community hostilities. Much depends on the ability & foresight of the pol'al leaders to forego shortrun pol'al gains to permit necessary adjustments to the system. IPSA.