Iran's Shortsighted Policies in Iraq: Between Inflaming and Containing of Radical Sunni Islam: 2003–2015

The main goal of the 2003 war with Iraq of the coalition forces led by the United States was to topple Saddam Hussein's regime and establish a new political system that would adopt democratic practices. Iran, a country that deemed Saddam's regime to be a threat, considered this war to be very helpful in many ways — first because it put an end to Clinton's “dual containment” approach and would thus help Iran to become a regional superpower at Iraq's expense. Second, a war with Iraq could put an end to the decades of oppression of the Shi'a community in Iraq. This article argues that Iran's involvement in Iraq's internal affairs created chaos in Iraq and contributed to the sectarian conflict against Sunni terror groups, notably the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known by the Arabic name Daesh, a terror group with the most extreme form of Sunni Radical Islam ever known. The sectarian conflict that resulted from the above is now taking place between the Sunnis and the Shi'a of both Persian and Arab backgrounds and this clash could not have become as radical as it is without Iran's aggressive foreign policy. It should, however, be noted that Iran is not the sole player in the country and therefore its part in inflaming sectarian conflicts should be viewed through a realistic prism that allows other forces — domestic and foreign — to be seen as having influenced the events for their benefit.     

Ethnic nationalism versus religious loyalty: The case of Kurds in Iran

When religious differences are present within an ethnic group, how do they affect the scope of its nationalist mobilization? The Kurds of Iran presents an ideal case to address this question given their religious diversity and varying levels of involvement in Kurdish nationalist movements. Building on an institutional approach to ethnic identity, this article argues that the dynamics of Kurdish ethnic mobilization in Iran reflect the nature of political exclusion in the Islamic Republic that is primarily based on sectarian affiliation. The article, based on original datasets compiled using several languages, including Persian and Kurdish, shows that recruitment into the Kurdish insurgency in Iran is significantly stronger in the Sunni Kurdish areas than the Shiite ones. While religious identity limits the appeal of ethno‐nationalism among the Shiite Kurds, it doubles the sense of marginalization among the Sunni Kurds and makes them more receptive to violent insurgent mobilization.     

Sectarian identity and national identity in the Middle East

This article looks at modern sectarian (here referring to Sunni/Shi'a) identities and their interaction with nationalism in the Middle East. In doing so I make three interrelated claims: 1) the term ‘sectarianism’ is distortive and analytically counterproductive. A better understanding of modern sectarian identity requires us to jettison the term. 2) Once discarded, our focus can then shift to sectarian identity: how it is constructed, perceived, utilized and so forth. A holistic understanding of sectarian identity must recognize the multiple fields upon which it is constructed and contested. The model adopted here frames sectarian identity as simultaneously operating on four fields: doctrinal, subnational, transnational and, crucially for our purposes, the national dimension. 3) Thirdly, this article challenges the assumptions regarding national and sectarian identities in the modern Middle East. Contrary to conventional wisdom, modern sectarian identities are deeply embedded in the prism of the nation‐state and are inextricably linked to nationalism and national identity. The article will rely primarily on the example of modern Iraq but, as will be seen, the Iraqi example is significantly echoed in the cases of Bahrain, Syria and Lebanon.     

(Re)framing identity claims: European and state institutions as opportunity windows for group reinforcement

How do we account for the reinforcement of identity particularisms despite transnational integration? This paper addresses the question by comparing two ethnolinguistic groups, Silesians and Kashubs in Poland. It is argued that in order to obtain state protection and tools to develop and survive, ethnic entrepreneurs adjust to institutions and discourses. Census politics, state laws' elaboration, transnational institutions represent openings to which groups adjust by reframing identity claims. In doing so, they re‐imagine and reinforce their communities. Following Rogers Brubaker, group‐making is presented as an eventful process where ethnic elites invest identity categories with groupness by taking advantage of opportunity windows at hand. Further, tracing changing political opportunities, strategic adjustments and groups' boomerang effect bid, the paper embeds identity groups within the social movement literature.     

Iraqi Perceptions of Out‐groups: Effects of Ethnicity,Religion, and Location

At the Iraq “liberation” in 2003, many asked, “Could Sunni, Shi'a and Kurdish factions be brought together, or is it likely that ethnic conflicts would lead to civil war?” This pilot project addressed: 1) How do Iraqis' self‐reported ethnic/religious identities (their membership in their personal in‐groups) relate to their perceptions of other unlike groups (out‐groups)?, and 2) How does a place of residence relate to Iraqi perceptions of out‐groups? My team collected 479 surveys of Iraqi opinions in Iraq, Jordan, and The Netherlands, asking for perceptions of Those Other Groups, their out‐groups. I found that background items of religion, ethnic origin, and location, taken by themselves, did not relate strongly to respondents' attitudes towards out‐groups. But, some combinations of background items did give significant differences in perceptions towards other groups. For example, moderate Arabs (with respect to ethnic importance) in Iraq were the group most opposed to foreigners, and were the group most opposed to expatriate Iraqis returning to Iraq. In this paper I explain important terms (out‐group and wiki); report on my findings in the midst of a period of regime change in Iraq; mention the use of an alternate way to disseminate research findings over the internet via a wiki; and describe follow‐up projects on social capital among Iraqis. My hope is that this will contribute to a base from which researchers and fieldworkers can develop theories to explore and explain elements of civil society in Iraq and other societies. This paper presents the following major sections: Abstract; Introduction; Purpose; Background; Methodology; Results; Conclusions; Further; Work; Appendixes; and End Notes     

Political mobilization and the Shi'i religious establishment (marja'iyya)

Since the fall of the Ba'athist regime in 2003, the Shi'i religious establishment in Iraq has come to the fore as a signifcant political force, intervening, guiding, supporting and opposing various types of developments. Its prominence has been directly related to the realization that the Shi'a constitute an absolute majority in Iraq and hence would have the primary influence in a democratic state. Alongside the recognition of its importance, some analysts tend to assume that the Shi'a are more inclined than others in Iraq to follow their religious and cultural leadership. This article attempts to clarify a number of issues pertaining to the actual attitudes and relationships between the marja'iyya and politics in Iraq. First, it examines three important approaches to an activist understanding of the role of the marja'iyya in politics and comments on the actual political movements that arise from them. Second, the article analyzes the role of the paramount fgure in the marja'iyya in Najaf, Ayatollah Ali Sistani and his attitudes towards politics and some of his active interventions in Iraqi politics. Finally, it comments on outstanding problems and failures within the leadership of Shi'i politics and the limitations of the marja'iyya in promoting democratic and civic politics. Any political actors in contemporary Iraq must take cognizance of the role of the marja'iyya but also account for the deficits that need to be overcome to propel Iraq beyond a compromise of ethnic and confessional affliations.     

越南华裔在美国的生存与适应

根据散落于相关研究文献和数据中有关越南华裔的资料,对1975年以后华裔逃离越南并定居美国的历史过程、生活适应、地位获得和族群认同等方面的大致状况作一个梳理,旨在加强越南华裔问题研究。结果表明,两次移民潮中,抵达美国的越南华裔难民约30-50万人,寻找亲人、取得族裔社区的支持和族裔聚居区的形成成为应对政府分散安置政策的方案;文化适应与经济成就落后于越南裔,但近20多年来取得了一些值得称道的成就;其族群认同建构于以共同的原居住地、居住国为背景和多元文化的基础之上。结论是,越南华裔还没有完全融入其他美国华裔之中,而是形成了一个既认同于美国华裔、又与越南裔有一定联系的相对独立的华人“次族群”。     

Old Wine in New Bottles: The Utility of Data Reanalysis in the Social Sciences

Abstract

The authors reconstruct processes of ethnic identification among residents of rural northeast China from the end of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth through an analysis of naming behavior. They apply discrete-time event-history techniques to individual life histories compiled from longitudinal, nominative household-register data from state farms in what is now Liaoning Province to identify the individual and household circumstances associated with the adaptation of Han or Manchu names, focusing on the role of heredity and status. Ethnic identification in late imperial northeast China was potentially fluid. Many residents were descended from migrants from Shandong who became hereditary tenants on state land administered by a system of Manchu government known as the Eight Banners. As banner people, or qiren, these residents could legitimately claim to be Manchu. As descendants of Shandong migrants, they could also claim to be Han. They could express their choice of ethnic identity through their choice of names not just for their children but also for themselves. Names not only express ethnic self-identification, but their registration by state authorities in the analyzed data also implies official recognition and legitimacy. The authors' results demonstrate that ethnic identity was not hereditary but subject to individual and family choice.     

Between Islam and the nation; nation-building,the ulama and Alevi identity in Turkey

This article analyses the relationship between Islam and nationalism by considering the role of the ulama in Turkey, housed within the Presidency of Religious Affairs (PRA). The ulama – religious scholars and experts of Islamic law – in Muslim majority contexts are typically closely linked with the state and play a key role in shaping the boundaries of Islam and of what is Islamically acceptable. However, this is also of consequence for the boundaries of the nation, since in Turkey Islam and nationalism has been intertwined, with Islam playing a central role in nation-building, as a basis of ethnic identity formation and a source of symbols and myths. This articles shows, firstly, that the PRA has acted as a carrier and preserver of Sunni (Hanefi) Muslim identity in continuity with the Ottoman ulama and, secondly, that it has delimited nation-building, by considering its approach to and interventions against Alevi identity.     

Germans from Russia in Saskatchewan: An Oral History

The Germans from Russia are a prominent settlement group in the rural landscape of Saskatchewan. Perhaps because they came incrementally, by chain migration, rather than by organized group colonization, they compose an ethnic group little noticed by historians. Also, their immediate origins are divided, inasmuch as earlier German-Russian immigrants came directly from Russia, whereas many twentieth-century German-Russian immigrants came to Canada from the United States, mainly from North Dakota and South Dakota. This article offers the first focused, scholarly historical treatment of German-Russian immigration and life in Saskatchewan. Drawing on oral histories collected with the support of the Faculty Research Program of the Canadian Embassy, it focuses particularly on growing up German-Russian on the prairies, positing a German-Russian ethnic identity distinct both from neighbor immigrant groups in Saskatchewan and from origin communities in the United States.     

Rituals of Commemoration,Rituals of Self-Invention: Safavid Religious Colleges and the Collective Memory of the Shi‘a

Shi‘ism, perhaps more than any other current of Islam, places emphasis on numerous forms of commemorative culture. Throughout the history of Shi‘ism, commemorative rituals have provided a comprehensive framework for interpreting a wide array of historical encounters between the Shi‘a and the dominant Sunni culture, thereby allowing Shi‘ism to construct itself as a community of learning and remembering. This self-construction required both a high degree of institutionalization as well as specialists to preserve the religious identity of the Shi‘a and to transmit religious knowledge to the next generation. Madrasas (Islamic institutions of higher learning) as well as the shrines of the Shi‘i Imams and their progeny served as the best institutions to achieve these goals. This paper argues that Safavid madrasas were not only centers for disseminating religious knowledge and preserving Shi'a intellectual heritage. They also rearticulated and contemporized the community's past through the active memorializing of pivotal events in the religious calendar of the Shi‘a. More specifically, the paper delineates the nature and scope of religious rituals and rites carried out in the Madrasa-ye Sultānī and a number of other madrasa-mosque complexes of Safavid Isfahan in order to explore the process by which the Shi‘i past was contextualized or contemporized as salient to suit the needs of Safavid power and society.     

Predicting violence within genocide: A model of elite competition and ethnic segregation from Rwanda

Can we predict when and where violence will likely break out within cases of genocide? I present a theoretical model to help identify areas susceptible and resistant to violence during genocide. The model conceptualizes violence onset as a function of elite competition for control of the state from above and the ethnic segregation of society from below. First, in areas where extremist elite control is weak, violence is delayed or averted because a contest for control between pro-violence elites and anti-violence moderates arises and the competition takes time to resolve. Where control is strong, violence is immediate or early because extremists face little competition and can rapidly deploy the state's coercive resources against targeted groups. Second, in areas where the integration of ethnic groups is high, violence is delayed because it takes time to break existing interethnic bonds and destroy bridging social capital. Cohesive communities resist elite attempts to divide them through interethnic trust and cooperation. I test the model by examining sub-national variation in genocide onset across Rwanda's 145 communes using new data and duration analysis. I additionally explore causal mechanisms by within-case analyses comparing early and late onset in two communes. The findings have implications for international policy makers as they respond to genocides and strategically prioritize limited intervention resources.     

Drug Control in Afghanistan: Culture,Politics, and Power during the 1958 Prohibition of Opium in Badakhshan

This article explores the process leading to the Afghan government's decision to implement a prohibition and eradication of opium in the northeastern province of Badakhshan. It explores why Daud chose Badakhshan, the impact of the opium ban on the people of Badakhshan and the future of opium production and trade, as well as the evolution of drug control in Afghanistan under the Musahiban dynasty. Ultimately, the ban was launched because it allowed Daud to garner international praise and financial support, while enforcing eradication in an area inhabited by ethnic minorities ensured that the Afghan government's coercive strategy would not generate resistance from rural Pashtun tribes historically opposed to these types of state intervention.     

Building Communities in Ancient Samnium: Cult,Ethnicity and Nested Identities

This article addresses the meaning of community in an area of the ancient world that is normally seen to diverge from the paradigm of the Classical city‐state, by examining the role of sanctuaries in the articulation of identity and belonging. The focus is on Samnium (central Italy) in the last four centuries BC, where archaeological and historical evidence, including a wealth of recent discoveries, supports a dynamic view of a region that is traditionally associated with a cohesive ethnic group. Whilst it is true that the major sanctuary at Pietrabbondante fostered the construction of Samnite ethnic identity, this article highlights the importance of other types and levels of belonging in light of a broader range of cult sites. The concept of ‘nested identities’ (a scenario where individuals identify simultaneously with overlapping groups) can bring about a more nuanced view of how cult was used as a means to negotiate belonging on ethnic and non‐ethnic levels. I hope to show that local communities, and particularly the local elites, were able to function independently rather than simply as the building blocks of the Samnite ethnos.     

Federal Restructuring in Ethiopia: Renegotiating Identity and Borders along the Oromo–Somali Ethnic Frontiers

When the Ethiopian state was reorganized as an ethnic federation in the 1990s, both ethnicity and governance experienced the impact of the change. Most importantly, ethnicity became the key instrument regarding entitlement, representation and state organization. For the larger ethnic groups, fitting into the new ethno‐federal structure has been relatively straightforward. In contrast, ethnic federalism has necessitated a renegotiation of identity and of statehood among several smaller communities that straddle larger ethnic groups. It has also led to the reconfiguration of centre–periphery relations. This contribution discusses how the federal restructuring of Ethiopia with the aim of matching ethnic and political boundaries led to renegotiation of identity, statehood and centre–periphery relations among several Somali and Oromo clans that share considerable ethno‐linguistic affinities.     

From revolutionary heroism to cultural heritage: museums,memory and representation in Laos

ABSTRACT. Museum exhibitions in Laos represent two main strands of Lao national identity discourse. First, they glorify the ‘liberation struggle’ of the so‐called ‘Lao multiethnic people’ under the leadership of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, and therefore serve as important ideological tools for the current regime's self‐legitimisation. Second, they display the history and cultural heritage of the Lao nation, providing the postcolonial state with a narrative of historical continuity and civilisation that is focused mostly on the dominant ethnic Lao culture. This article explores the contradictions within official images of the Lao nation‐state and how these opposing strands of national identity compete or interact. Museums as key arenas of ideological tensions constitute illuminating fields of research on discourses of national identity in Laos.     

Democratisation and Ethnic Conflict: The Kin Connection

Abstract. This article posits that individuation is a determining factor in making democratisation efforts workable or, where it is absent, ethnic conflict likely. Somalia serves as a case study. Since the Somali state has not been able to secure individuals' social welfare or their futures, citizens use genealogies, which chart trustworthiness, to construct social welfare safety-nets. There is also a moral dimension to genealogy. This is quite different from what occurs in the democratic West, where the state has guaranteed individuals a significant measure of social welfare security over time, and where identity can be considered situational. I argue that under conditions of uncertainty, such as have existed in Somalia, identity is not at all situational, but is fixed and fixes individuals in ethnic groups. The push to democratise can then lead to armed ethnic conflict.     

The cloak,the cage and the fog of sanctity: the Zionist mission and the role of religion among Arab Jews*

Abstract. This paper examines the Zionist national mission to mobilise Jewish ethnic communities in Arab countries, in the period preceding the establishment of the state of Israel. It draws on archival texts to trace a phenomenon known in Jewish historiography as ‘Shadarut’; a voluntary religious practice of fundraising which was widespread in the Jewish world for hundreds of years. The paper shows how this pre‐national religious practice (to be labelled ‘the cloak’) was adopted and incorporated into the Zionist national project (‘the cage’), first generating tension between the Jewish religious establishment and the Zionist ‘secular’ movement, and then blurring the distinction between Judaism as a religion and Judaism as a national identity. The paper shows how secular emissaries of European origin arrived in Arab countries as religious emissaries (‘shadarim’) and aspired to discover a strong religious fervour among members of the Jewish communities there. This is because in the eyes of the Zionist (ostensibly secular) movement, being religious Jews in Islamic countries was a criterion that demarcated them from their Arab neighbours. This analysis entails two main conclusions: (a) that contrary to the experience of the European Zionist national movement in which secularism and the revolt against the Jewish religion played a central role, in Islamic countries it was particularly the Jewish religion, and not secular nationalism that was used to mobilise the Jewish community into the Jewish national movement; (b) that the ‘shadarut’ practice refuses to yield to the epistemological imperatives and the common divisions that arise from the binary distinction between ‘religiousness’ and ‘secularity’, particularly in the Middle East. Some implications for contemporary Israeli society are discussed.     

The Interregnum: The South's Insecurity Dilemma

Abstract. This article investigates the ‘insecurity dilemma’ facing many Third World states arising from the fact that multiple ethnic communities reside within their borders. In terms of analysing the types of states that exist in the ‘South’, much of the literature on this phenomenon serves to confuse the various elements of state power and, therefore, the reasons for the existence and persistence of internal threats to Third World states. It is posited that the ‘insecurity dilemma’ has three possible sources: a lack of coercive means by the state for imposing its rule; a deficient infrastructure; and a lack of legitimacy. In examining the persistence of the ‘insecurity dilemma’ the article focuses on the third dimension of state power and the possible diminution of challenges from ethnic communities within a state's borders via the process of nation-building. The possibility that it will only be a matter of time before the embryonic states of the South will emulate the success of European states in achieving some degree of domestic consensus is highly questionable when the processes of nation-building are examined, for two reasons. Firstly, the emphasis placed on ‘modernisation’– infrastructural development and state imposition of a national ‘high’ culture – may be misplaced. Secondly, because of their peripheral status in the world economy the assimilative tendencies associated with ‘modernisation’ may take an extremely long time in arriving.     

A sense of an ending: late-generation ethnicity and Irish America

Irish America today is at a stage of “late generation ethnicity,” designating an ethnic formation that reaches back many generations in the US and is not being significantly replenished from the country of origin. This is not necessarily a terminal state of ethnic affairs, but it is a transitional one, and the analytical challenge is to identify and understand the features and implications of “lateness,” what the sense of an ending means in the Irish American case. This essay will explore this question, drawing on field study among Irish communities in Chicago, and also consider some of the differences in worldview among Irish-Americans, particularly as these pertain to matters of immigration reform and undocumented Irish in the US.