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The Hidden Famine
Hunger, Poverty and Sectarianism in Belfast 1840-50
Christine Kinealy and Gerard Mac Atasney
Pluto Press, 2000

front cover of In the Shadow of Sectarianism
In the Shadow of Sectarianism
Law, Shiʿism, and the Making of Modern Lebanon
Max Weiss
Harvard University Press, 2010

Contrary to the conventional wisdom that sectarianism is intrinsically linked to violence, bloodshed, or social disharmony, Max Weiss uncovers the complex roots of Shiʿi sectarianism in twentieth-century Lebanon.

The template for conflicted relations between the Lebanese state and Shiʿi society arose under French Mandate rule through a process of gradual transformation, long before the political mobilization of the Shiʿi community under the charismatic Imam Musa al-Sadr and his Movement of the Deprived, and decades before the radicalization linked to Hizballah. Throughout the period, the Shiʿi community was buffeted by crosscutting political, religious, and ideological currents: transnational affiliations versus local concerns; the competing pull of Arab nationalism and Lebanese nationalism; loyalty to Jabal ʿAmil, the cultural heartland of Shiʿi Lebanon; and the modernization of religious and juridical traditions.

Uncoupling the beginnings of modern Shiʿi collective identity from the rise of political Shiʿism, Weiss transforms our understanding of the nature of sectarianism and shows why in Lebanon it has been both so productive and so destructive at the same time.

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front cover of Jihadism, Sectarianism and Politics in a Changing Middle East
Jihadism, Sectarianism and Politics in a Changing Middle East
Adib Abdulmajid
Eburon Academic Publishers, 2021
An exploration of sectarianism, Islamism, and jihadism in the contemporary Middle East. 

The emergence and growth of sectarian Islamist militant organizations, whether Sunni or Shia, is deemed to be the fruit of the emerging radical interpretations of the concept of jihad, and the evolution of Islamism in general. The main objective of this book is to help the reader understand the complex religio-political scene in today’s Middle East and the ideological principles and agendas of influential movements, whose beliefs and actions constitute a serious threat to cultural diversity in the region. It addresses the doctrinal tenets associated with the emergence of influential Islamist organizations and the challenges encountered by the culturally diverse populations that surround them. This book also delves into the historical events that have shaped the Middle East as we know it today. It further examines the key factors behind the rise of the most influential sectarian-guided, jihadi-based extremist groups in the recent years
 


 
 
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front cover of The Politics of Sectarianism in Postwar Lebanon
The Politics of Sectarianism in Postwar Lebanon
Bassel Salloukh, Rabie Barakat, Jinan S. Al-Habbal, Lara W. Khattab and Shoghig Mikaelian
Pluto Press, 2015
The Arab Spring unsettled regimes across North Africa and the Middle East, from Morocco to Oman. Lebanon, however, proved immune. How can that be explained? What features of Lebanese politics and governance could account for the system’s ability to withstand the domestic and regional pressures unleashed by the Arab Spring?
 
The Politics of Sectarianism in Postwar Lebanon builds on extensive field work to find the answers to those questions and more. Bassel Salloukh, Lebanon’s leading political scientist, analyses the mix of institutional, clientelist, and discursive practices that sustain the sectarian nature of Lebanon, revealing an expanding sectarian web that occupies ever-more-substantial areas of everyday life in Lebanon. It also highlights the struggles waged by opponents of the system, including women, public sector employees, teachers, students, and NGO-based coalitions, and how their efforts often fail to bear fruit because of sabotage by various systematic forces.
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