The irony of sectarianism: Sectarianizing by desectarianizing in Syria

Abstract

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.

Public diplomacy of authoritarianism: Strategic use of Suzanne Mubarak

“…I adopt a frame analysis of these newspapers. Frames are quantitively identified and grouped through the “presence or absence of certain keywords, stock phrases, stereotype images, [and] sources of information” (Entman, 1993, p. 52; Menshawy, 2020, 2022). Two keyframes were predefined as described herself, as was described by the press interviewing or reporting her activities, as a “modernized woman” and a “modernizing woman.” Women in general and pioneering individuals such as the leader's wife, in particular, have long been taken as “proof” (Elsadda, 2011, p. 88) of the modernization of the whole country as evidenced in the early stages of Egypt's nation‐building (Elsadda, 2011, p. 88).…”

“…I adopt a frame analysis of these newspapers. Frames are quantitively identified and grouped through the "presence or absence of certain keywords, stock phrases, stereotype images, [and] sources of information" (Entman, 1993, p. 52;Menshawy, 2020Menshawy, , 2022. Two keyframes were predefined as described herself, as was described by the press interviewing or reporting her activities, as a "modernized woman" and a "modernizing woman."…”

Memory, fear, and manipulated sectarianism: Exploring Christian views and intercommunal dynamics in Al‐Hasakah amidst the Syrian uprising

“…Furthermore, Menshawy critiques simplistic interpretations of the Syrian crisis, focusing on the complex construction and utilization of sectarian identities within Syria's authoritarian regime. His work highlights the nuanced, strategic, and manipulative nature of sectarian politics, emphasizing the coexistence of sectarianization and desectarianization processes (Menshawy, 2022).…”

Mobilizing religious differences and terrorism, negotiating civil rights in Egypt

“…Research on the authoritarian regimes' manipulation of the discourse on sectarianism demonstrates their construction of different rhetoric, depending on the purpose each serves (Haddad, 2011(Haddad, , 2017(Haddad, , 2020. One rhetoric is the process of "desectarianization," or absence of sectarianism, to sustain the claim of an existing harmonious national unity and social fabric (Mabon, 2020;Menshawy, 2022;Phillips, 2015). To maintain this rhetoric, autocratic leaders may take advantage of sectarian differences when this "suits their goals": "to have some minority to blame for problems, to deflect outrage from their own failures and to bind an otherwise fractious community together against a common enemy," willing to "turn the hatred on and off" (Lynch, 2013).…”