Regional Implications of Shi‘a Revival in Iraq
Since regime change disenfranchised the Sunni minority leadership that had ruled Iraq since the country’s independence in 1932 and empowered the Shi‘a majority, the Shi‘a-Sunni competition for power has emerged as the single greatest determinant of peace and stability in post-Saddam Iraq.
Iraq’s sectarian pains are all the more complex because reverberations of Shi‘a empowerment will inevitably extend beyond Iraq’s borders, involving the broader region from Lebanon to Pakistan.
The change in the sectarian balance of power is likely to have a far more immediate and powerful impact on politics in the greater Middle East than any potential example of a moderate and progressive government in Baghdad. The change in the sectarian balance of power will shape public perception of U.S. policies in Iraq as well as the long-standing balance of power between the Shi‘a and Sunnis that sets the foundation of politics from Lebanon to Pakistan. U.S. interests in the greater Middle East are now closely tied to the risks and opportunities that will emanate from the Shi‘a revival in Iraq.
The competition for power between the Shi‘a and Sunnis is neither a new development nor one limited to Iraq. In fact, it has shaped alliances and determined how various actors have defined and pursued their interests in the region for the past three decades. Often overlooked in political analyses of greater Middle Eastern politics, this competition is key to grasping how current developments in Iraq will shape this region in years to come. Sectarianism during this time period has also been closely tied to the development of
militant Islamist ideology and activism among Sunnis.
Sunni identity is part and parcel of the ideology and politics of jihadi groups associated with Al Qaeda; the Taliban; militant Wahhabis, a puritanical sectarian movement that emerged in the eighteenth century in modern Saudi Arabia; and the various branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist organization that appeared in Egypt in the 1920s and is associated with the rise of political Islam, especially in the Arab world. Anti-Shi‘a violence is not just a strategic ploy used by Al Qaeda operatives, such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to create instability in Iraq and undermine Washington’s plans for that country’s future; it is a constituent part of the ideology of Sunni militancy.
Vali Nasr (Complete Text-.pdf)
Is a professor of Middle Eastern and South Asian politics in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
© 2004 by The Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Since regime change disenfranchised the Sunni minority leadership that had ruled Iraq since the country’s independence in 1932 and empowered the Shi‘a majority, the Shi‘a-Sunni competition for power has emerged as the single greatest determinant of peace and stability in post-Saddam Iraq.
Iraq’s sectarian pains are all the more complex because reverberations of Shi‘a empowerment will inevitably extend beyond Iraq’s borders, involving the broader region from Lebanon to Pakistan.
The change in the sectarian balance of power is likely to have a far more immediate and powerful impact on politics in the greater Middle East than any potential example of a moderate and progressive government in Baghdad. The change in the sectarian balance of power will shape public perception of U.S. policies in Iraq as well as the long-standing balance of power between the Shi‘a and Sunnis that sets the foundation of politics from Lebanon to Pakistan. U.S. interests in the greater Middle East are now closely tied to the risks and opportunities that will emanate from the Shi‘a revival in Iraq.
The competition for power between the Shi‘a and Sunnis is neither a new development nor one limited to Iraq. In fact, it has shaped alliances and determined how various actors have defined and pursued their interests in the region for the past three decades. Often overlooked in political analyses of greater Middle Eastern politics, this competition is key to grasping how current developments in Iraq will shape this region in years to come. Sectarianism during this time period has also been closely tied to the development of
militant Islamist ideology and activism among Sunnis.
Sunni identity is part and parcel of the ideology and politics of jihadi groups associated with Al Qaeda; the Taliban; militant Wahhabis, a puritanical sectarian movement that emerged in the eighteenth century in modern Saudi Arabia; and the various branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist organization that appeared in Egypt in the 1920s and is associated with the rise of political Islam, especially in the Arab world. Anti-Shi‘a violence is not just a strategic ploy used by Al Qaeda operatives, such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to create instability in Iraq and undermine Washington’s plans for that country’s future; it is a constituent part of the ideology of Sunni militancy.
Vali Nasr (Complete Text-.pdf)
Is a professor of Middle Eastern and South Asian politics in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
© 2004 by The Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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