Houses built on sand

Mabon, Simon

doi:10.7765/9781526126474.00014

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Despite the end of colonialism, the Middle East remains what Brown considers a uniquely “penetrated system” (1984) or what Hinnebusch describes as an “exceptional magnet for external intervention which, in turn, has kept anti‐imperialism alive” even after the retreat of imperial armies from the region (Hinnebusch, 2003, p. 3). Furthermore, for some other scholars, the very existence of the state “is evidence of this colonial legacy, viewing the emergence of the contemporary state as the impact of Western forces” (Mabon, 2020a, p. 12). Assad family rule has long linked its credentials to the “national struggle against imperialism” (Hinnebusch, 2001) early in the 20th century, to previous plots that “fragmented historic Syria” (Hinnebusch, 2001) or to the divide and rule policies under the French mandate (1920–1946), such as weakening Sunni notables by strengthening minorities or by dividing up its “Greater Syria” territory for a Christian rule in Lebanon (Neep, 2012).…”

Section: Sampling and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…His acts of avoiding boundary‐making in the desectarianization rhetoric have set new boundaries, have aggravated existing ones, or have created new different forms of othering (e.g., groups such as the “Islamic State” or countries such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia). In other words, and within these dynamics of what Mabon (2020a) calls “inclusion through exclusion” (p. 13), desectarianization is a process always based on sectarian practices within this context of authoritarianism which the article explores.…”

Section: Conceptualizing (De)sectarianizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A considerable part of the literature on sectarianism in the Arab region and specifically in Syria almost moves in one main direction, that is by demonstrating how state leaders manipulate sectarianism for their own use (Haddad, 2011; Mabon, 2020a; Phillips, 2015). Analysts engage in exploring how those leaders use and abuse what is there of social cleavages, subethnic divisions, or religious tension rocking their societies (Aldoughli, 2020; Dukhan, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…33As several scholars conflate state, government and regime, I limitedly use the latter to mean ruling elites setting ‘their own survival at the forefront of political projects’ (Mabon, 2020a, p. 11) and the state as a “political project shaped and reshaped by the context and contingency” (Mabon, 2020a, p. 10) related to this purpose. As such, the state turns into a “performativity” (Tripp, 2018) or a continued dynamic process where the ruling elites could benefit from available resources such as coercive apparatuses as the army or security forces or administrative institutions.…”

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confidence: 99%

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The irony of sectarianism: Sectarianizing by desectarianizing in Syria

Menshawy

2022

Digest Mid East Studies

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The study seeks to resolve a conundrum in Syrian politics: the ruling regime has always claimed and celebrated a harmonious social fabric, national unity, and a long‐standing tradition of coexistence despite the prevalence of an opposite grim reality marked by sectarian divisions and factionalism which the regime itself mainly created or sustained. I explore the process of acting “as if not” by analyzing the speeches of Syria's President Bashar al‐Assad since the eruption of the conflict in 2011, a period when the country has been buffeted by extreme sectarian waves. The process shows how Assad has constructed a process of desectarianization based on repetition, frequency, and resonance of specific frames in his speeches, and also based on building an image of an idealized present of internal unity and integration. The process includes externalizing sectarianization as a “western” import and emphasizing the regime's ideologies of pan‐Arab nationalism and secularism as bulwarks against it. Furthermore, the Assad regime has taken credit as a “desectarianization guardian” in different ways including maintaining the status quo and consolidating the impression of his active positive leadership drawn on taking the country down the path of unity and solidarity. However, ironically, desectarianization has also entrenched the very sectarian practices which it claimed its mission to stand against. Sectarianisation and desectarianization are both sides of the same coin in Syria's politics of authoritarianism.

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Section: Sampling and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conceptualizing (De)sectarianizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The irony of sectarianism: Sectarianizing by desectarianizing in Syria

Menshawy

2022

Digest Mid East Studies

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“…de‐sectarianisation, as so completely the opposite of sectarianism that it can be an almost mechanical solution to the problem. Scholars such as Simon Mabon (2020a; 2020b) went down this road, suggesting solutions in the shape of ‘steps' to be taken by states seeking to get rid of sectarianism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Discoursing sectarianism” approach: What and how to analyse in sectarian discourses

Alghashian¹,

Menshawy

2022

Digest Mid East Studies

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This article puts forth ‘discoursing sectarianism’ as an approach helping overcome gaps in essentialism, instrumentalism and constructivism as the three main lines of analysing sectarianism. The approach takes language as a point of departure, showing how it can dually describe reality as a ‘neutral’ medium of communication and also create reality as constitutive component of practices sectarianisation. The approach also focuses on workings of ideology and power relations as part of linking language, texted in variable formats such as written speeches, monuments or images, with contexts shaping or being shaped with them. Thus, we have to study manifestations or articulations sectarianism, e.g. a speech or an image, within the broader process of their actualisation or materialisation (e.g. the context in which these articulations are enforced, transformed, challenged or falsified). This broader process of discoursing sectarianism within language and beyond can thus accommodate elements predominating analyses in the three other lines of enquiry such as religion and history. The final section of the paper maps a practical and analytical toolkit for researchers and analysts seeking to investigate sectarian discourses by offering the three mutually inclusive levels of textual practices, discursive practices and political practices.

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Transformationsprozesse, politische Un-Ordnung und die Ordnung der Geschlechter im Vorderen Orient. Das Beispiel Irak

Kreile¹

2021

GENDER

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Im Zuge tiefgreifender Umbrüche ist der Vordere Orient fundamental politisch in Un-Ordnung geraten. Auch die patriarchale Geschlechterordnung geriet unter Druck und ist teilweise erodiert. Frauenrechte werden in der Krise zum machtpolitisch umkämpften Terrain, auf dem autoritäre Regime, regionale, substaatliche und transnationale Kräfte um Legitimität und Kontrolle wetteifern. Frauenbewegungen sehen sich mit vielfältigen Strategien ‚maskulinistischer Restauration‘ konfrontiert. Am Beispiel des Irak analysiert der Beitrag in historisch-struktureller Perspektive, wie Geschlechterpolitik im autoritär zentralisierenden Staat des alten Regimes wie auch im fragmentierten konfessionalistisch verengten politischen System im ‚neuen Irak‘ herrschaftspolitisch instrumentalisiert wird und Frauenrechte jeweils strategisch erweitert oder eingeschränkt werden. Die innen- wie die geschlechterpolitischen Dynamiken im neuen Irak sind eng mit regionalen und internationalen Machtkämpfen verwoben.

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Houses built on sand

Cited by 4 publications

References 10 publications

The irony of sectarianism: Sectarianizing by desectarianizing in Syria

The irony of sectarianism: Sectarianizing by desectarianizing in Syria

“Discoursing sectarianism” approach: What and how to analyse in sectarian discourses

Transformationsprozesse, politische Un-Ordnung und die Ordnung der Geschlechter im Vorderen Orient. Das Beispiel Irak

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