One of Foreign Policy's Best Five Books of 2013, chosen by Marc Lynch of The Middle East Channel
Beginning with the 2003 invasion of Iraq and concluding with the aftermath of the 2011 Arab uprisings, Frederic M. Wehrey investigates the roots of the Shi'a-Sunni divide now dominating the Persian Gulf's political landscape. Focusing on three Gulf states affected most by sectarian tensions—Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait—Wehrey identifies the factors that have exacerbated or tempered sectarianism, including domestic political institutions, the media, clerical establishments, and the contagion effect of external regional events, such as the Iraq war, the 2006 Lebanon conflict, the Arab uprisings, and Syria's civil war.
In addition to his analysis, Wehrey builds a historical narrative of Shi'a activism in the Arab Gulf since 2003, linking regional events to the development of local Shi'a strategies and attitudes toward citizenship, political reform, and transnational identity. He finds that, while the Gulf Shi'a were inspired by their coreligionists in Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon, they ultimately pursued greater rights through a nonsectarian, nationalist approach. He also discovers that sectarianism in the region has largely been the product of the institutional weaknesses of Gulf states, leading to excessive alarm by entrenched Sunni elites and calculated attempts by regimes to discredit Shi'a political actors as proxies for Iran, Iraq, or Lebanese Hizballah. Wehrey conducts interviews with nearly every major Shi'a leader, opinion shaper, and activist in the Gulf Arab states, as well as prominent Sunni voices, and consults diverse Arabic-language sources.
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- List of Abbreviations
- PART I: THE ROOTS OF SECTARIANISM
- 1. Governance, Society, and Identity in the Gulf
- 2. The Long Shadow of the Iranian Revolution
- PART II: BAHRAIN
- 3. Debating Participation: The Bahraini Shi'a and Regional Influences
- 4. Sectarian Balancing: The Bahraini Sunnis and a Polarized Parliament
- 5. Into the Abyss: The Pearl Roundabout Uprising and Its Aftermath
- PART III: SAUDI ARABIA
- 6. Loyalties Under Fire: The Saudi Shi'a in the Shadow of Iraq
- 7. Under Siege: The Salafi and Regime Countermobilization
- 8. Waving Uthman's Shirt: Saudi Arabia's Sectarian Spring
- PART IV: KUWAIT
- 9. Renegotiating a Ruling Bargain: The Kuwaiti Shi'a
- 10. Tilting Toward Repression: The Sunni Opposition and the Kuwaiti Regime
- 11. A Balancing Act Goes Awry: Sectarianism and Kuwait's Mass Protests
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
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