Sectarian Games

Sovereign Power, War Machines and Regional Order in the Middle East

Bibliographic Data

ID6160905
AuthorsSimon Mabon (0000-0003-0689-9849, Lancaster University, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume11
Issue3
Pages283-318
Publication date2019-11-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMiddle East Law and Governance (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1876-3367 • E-ISSN: 1876-3375
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/18763375-01201001
OpenAlexW2997075791
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited42

Amidst violent contestation across the Middle East leaving regimes facing – or fearing – popular protests, the regulation of political life became increasingly important. Across the past century, the development of political projects has been driven by regime efforts to maintain power, constructing regime-society relations in such a way to ensure their survival. As a consequence, security is not given; rather, it reflects the concerns of elites and embeds their concerns within society, using a range of domestic, regional and geopolitical strategies to meet their needs. These strategies play on a range of different fears and currents to locate regime interests within broader concerns. A key part of such efforts involves the cultivation and suppression of particular identities, often resulting in contestation and uncertainty within and between states. Drawing on the ideas of Giorgio Agamben, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, the article argues that the regulation of sect-based identities – and difference – has been a key part of governance strategies in divided societies across the Middle East, albeit varying across time and space

Corporate governance · Economics · Geopolitics · Middle East · Order (exchange · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Sovereignty · Global Security and Public Health · Law · Middle East Politics and Society · Turkey's Politics and Society

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