Sources of Sectarianism in the Middle East

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace project on Sources of Sectarianism in the Middle East is a two-year inquiry that seeks to improve our understanding of intra-religious identity conflict in a turbulent region. Rather than focusing exclusively on doctrinal and theological differences, the project examines how geopolitics, political economy, governing structures, media, non-state actors, and political and clerical elites have contributed to the inflammation of sectarian identity in the region. The study covers Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, Iraq, Iran, and Egypt.

The project includes eleven contributing authors from a broad array of disciplines such as political scientists, historians, sociologists, journalists, and scholars of Islam. The resulting papers will be posted on this site but also collected in an edited volume to be published in 2017. This endeavor is made possible through a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation.