SANS SURPRISE, DERRIERE LA CONFESSIONALISATION DES REVOLTES ARABES, LIDENTIQUE STRATEGIE CRIMINELLE DES REGIMES Divisive Rule Sectarianism and Power Maintenance in the Arab Spring: Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria SWP Research Paper 2014/RP 04, March 2014, 31 Pages In early 2011, popular movements in Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria protested against authoritarian and corrupt regimes and political leaders. They mobilized on platforms of national unity and accused established leaders of exploiting historical divisions along religious and sectarian lines to defend their grip on power. These divisions however quickly came back to the fore, leading to the failure of the movements, bitter conflict and, in the case of Syria, to devastating civil war. The purpose of this research paper is to show that these outcomes were brought about by the strategies that regimes and political leaders employed to defeat the challenge that popular movements presented to their rule. To this end, they exploited specific weaknesses that made it impossible for these movements to hold on to the inclusive platforms which initially had gained them support across all social groups. A historical perspective reveals that the success of these strategies resulted from historical experiences and practices of authoritarian and violent forms of leadership and rule. swp-berlin.org/en/publications/swp-research-papers/swp-research-paper-detail/article/arab_spring_sectarianism_and_power_maintenance.html
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 13:25:10 +0000
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