Religious nationalism and power vacuum in the Middle East
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26577//EJRS.2021.v25.i1.r5Keywords:
religious nationalism, power vacuum, Islamism, Kurds, Middle East, self-determinationAbstract
Religious beliefs can be combined with nationalism to provide a source mobilization for national self-determination. With the declining of quasi-state "Islamic State", there is a temporary power vacuum in the former ISIS’ controlled territory. Similar like in the post-colonial and post-cold war eras, when the withdrawal of external powers created a power vacuum, religious nationalism involved in the reconstruction of subsequent orders, and the new regime often embodied criticism and revision of the previous political system, political structure, and ruling culture. The cultural environment of Islam shapes indigenous nationalism. Religious beliefs can provide sources of aggregation and mobilization for self-determination. This paper argues that since the ISIS showed extremism characteristics of the close combination of violence and religion, those national independent forces, rooted in the local religious society, have to revalue their religious security.
Key words: religious nationalism, power vacuum, Islamism, Kurds, Middle East, self-determinationReferences
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Richard Lachmann, (2010) States and Power, Cambridge: Polity, p. 130.
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Robert O. Keohane and Peter J. Katzenstein, (2007) “The Political Consequences of Anti-Americanism,” in Peter J. Katzenstein and Robert O. Keohane, eds., Anti-Americanism in the World Politics, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, p. 282.
Simon Haddad, (2017) “Accounting for Lebanese Muslims’ Perspectives on the Islamic State (ISIS): Religious Militancy, Sectarianism and Personal Attribution,” Defense & Security Analysis, Vol. 33, No. 3, p. 257.
Siping Tang, (2013) The Social Evolution of International Politics, Oxford University Press, p. 131.
Tamer El-Ghobashy and Paul Sonne, (2018) “U.S. Disbands Command Overseeing American Ground Force in Iraq, As Major Combat Against ISIS Ends,” The Washington Post, April 30.
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1. “Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (Adopted by General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960),” UN, http://www.un.org/en/decolonization/declaration.shtml
Ali Nehme Hamdan, (2016) “Breaker of Barriers? Notes on the Geopolitics of the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham,” Geopolitics, Feb. 29, p. 606.
Amal Ghazal, (2015) “Tension of Nationalism: The Mzabi Student Missions in Tunis and the Politics of Anticolonialism,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 47, No. 1, p. 59.
Ariane Chedel d’Appollonia, Les frontières du racisme, Paris: Presses de Science Po, 2011, p. 95.
Benedict Anderson, (1998) The Spectre of Comparisons: Nationalism, Southeast Asia, and the World, New York: Verso, p. 360.
Clifford Geertz, (2017) The Interpretation of Cultures, New York: Basic Books, p. 155.
Daniel L. (2006) Byman and Kenneth Pollack, “What Next?” Washington Post, August 20, p. 801.
David Westerlund and Carl F. Hallencreutz eds. (1996) Questioning the Secular State: The Worldwide Resurgence of Religion in Politics, London: Hurts and Company, p. 4.
E. Gellner, (2006) Nations and Nationalism, Oxford: Blackwell; Ithaca: Cornell University Press, p. 1.
Eric Hobsbawm, (2012) Nation and Nationalism Since 1780, Cambridge University Press, pp. 89-90.
Günther Schlee, (2008) How Enemies Are Made: Towards A Theory of Ethnic and Religious Conflict, New York: Berghahn Books, p.124.
Harold R. Isaacs, (1997) Idols of the Tribe Group Identity and Political Change, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, pp. 144, 171.
Hedley Bull, (1997) “The Revolt against the West,” in Hedley Bull and Adam Watson eds., The Expansion of International Society, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 84, p. 217.
Ibrahim Al-Marashi, (2005 ) “Iraq’s Constitutional Debate,” Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 9, No. 3, p. 156.
Ioannis N. (2012) Grigoriadis, Instilling Religion in Greek and Turkish Nationalism: A “Sacred Synthesis”, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 70.
Jack Snyder, (2000) From Voting to Violence, New York: Norton, p. 58.
Jeff Haynes, (1994) Religion in Third World Politics, Milton Keynes: Open University Press, p. 3.
Jonathan Fox, (2004) Bringing Religion into the International Relations, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 26.
Jordi Tejel, (2009) Тranslated by Emily Welle and Jane Welle, Syria’s Kurds: History, Politics and Society, London: Routledge, p. 95.
Marc Lynch, (2007) “Anti-Americanism in the Arab World,” in Peter J. Katzenstein and Robert O. Keohane, eds., Anti-Americanism in the World Politics, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, p. 196.
Mark Juergensmeyer, (1996) “The Worldwide Rise of Religious Nationalism,” Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 50, Issue 1, Summer, pp. 2-4.
Mark Juergensmeyer, (2018) “Thinking Sociologically about Religion and Violence: The Case of ISIS,” Sociology of Religion: A Quarterly Review, Vol. 79, No. 1, p. 20.
Maurizio Viroli, (1997) For Love of Country: An Essay on Patriotism and Nationalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 2.
Michael J. Totten, (2018) “No, The Syrian Kurds are not Terrorists,” World Affairs, January 31, http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/michael-j-totten/no-syrian-kurds-are-not-terrorists.
Michael Jerryson, (2010) “Introduction”, in Michael Jerryson and Mark Juergensmeyer, eds., Buddhist Warfare, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 4-9.
Michael T. Hoffman and Elizabeth R. Nugent, (2015) “Communal Religious Practice and Support for Armed Parties: Evidence from Lebanon,” Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 61, No. 4, p. 894.
Michael Walzer, (2015) The Paradox of Liberation: Secular Revolutions and Religious Counterrevolutions, New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 1, 104.
Peri-Khan Aqrawi-Whitcomb, (2015) “Secularism: Essential to Kurdish Identity,” Kurdistan24, November 22, http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/828209b9-b737-4253-88b2-af0e4e53dba1/Secularism--essential-to-Kurdish-identity.
Peter van der Veer, (1994) Religious Nationalism: Hindus and Muslims in India, Berkeley: University of California Press, p. 70.
Philip Issa, (2018) “Syrian Government Raises its Flag over Cradle of 2011 Revolt,” Associated Press News, July 12, https://apnews.com/119b758e3e224491a9ecf7e3bf26692b.
Randall L. Schweller, (2006) Unanswered Threats: Political Constraints on the Balance of Power, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, pp. 150-151.
Richard Lachmann, (2010) States and Power, Cambridge: Polity, p. 130.
Richard Ned Lebow, (2008) A Cultural Theory of International Relations, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 439.
Robert O. Keohane and Peter J. Katzenstein, (2007) “The Political Consequences of Anti-Americanism,” in Peter J. Katzenstein and Robert O. Keohane, eds., Anti-Americanism in the World Politics, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, p. 282.
Simon Haddad, (2017) “Accounting for Lebanese Muslims’ Perspectives on the Islamic State (ISIS): Religious Militancy, Sectarianism and Personal Attribution,” Defense & Security Analysis, Vol. 33, No. 3, p. 257.
Siping Tang, (2013) The Social Evolution of International Politics, Oxford University Press, p. 131.
Tamer El-Ghobashy and Paul Sonne, (2018) “U.S. Disbands Command Overseeing American Ground Force in Iraq, As Major Combat Against ISIS Ends,” The Washington Post, April 30.
Yuan Zhang, (2014) Religion’s Functional Unit and Regional Conflict, Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, p. 216.
1. “Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (Adopted by General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960),” UN, http://www.un.org/en/decolonization/declaration.shtml
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Zhang, Y., & Ge, Y. (2021). Religious nationalism and power vacuum in the Middle East. Eurasian Journal of Religious Studies, 25(1), 38–47. https://doi.org/10.26577//EJRS.2021.v25.i1.r5
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