Institutional solutions for sectarian conflicts in the Middle East in the context of imperial legacy

The article focuses on the nature of sectarian conflicts in the Middle East as well as ways to resolve this and possible transformations. We assume that the rising level of ethnic confrontation stems from the disruption of governance regimes established during the Ottoman Empire. Hence, the research question states as follows: are there any ways to use the imperial practices of ethnocultural diversity management as the institutional framework for the resolution of current sectarian conflicts? By applying a structural functional approach, we identify the political space of the late Ottoman Empire, its main elements and constellation. We show that the process of state-building in the Middle East resulted in the decay of social ties between local communities and the increase of ethnic violence. These claims are confirmed by comparative analysis of a number of conflicts. It is found that the institutional framework for conflict resolution in Arab states should be based on political devolution and power-dividing agreements. This allows to reset inactive imperial practices in order to mitigate violence and enhance legitimacy. We point out that among the various reforms designed to achieve harmonization of formal and informal political institutions are fede- ralization, non-territorial autonomy, consociationalism and local governance.

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