Sectarian securitization in the Middle East and the case of Israel

Abstract

Focusing on the politics of sectarianism in the Middle East after the Arab uprisings, this article advances two main claims. First, it identifies the current climate of insecurity in the region amid major geopolitical shifts as a key condition that allows political leaders to present sectarian identities as being under (existential) threat. However, a heightened sense of insecurity not only acts as an enabling condition but is also the outcome of these sectarian securitization strategies. The ‘politics of fear’ may thus trigger a self-sustaining mechanism, or a vicious cycle. Second, as sectarian securitization has intensified in Israel since the early 2000s, the article discusses the vicious cycle of securitized sectarianism in the case of Israel in a comparative perspective. By drawing the attention to insecurity (or the sense thereof) as a key enabling condition against the backdrop of major disruptive events, and by bringing the case of Israel into the picture, the article contributes to our understanding of the current structure of regional politics in the Middle East. It concludes by reflecting on the impact of sectarian securitization on the region's conflict potential and the comparability of the Israeli case with those of other states in the region.