Author Archives: Hannah Atkins

Blog post: The Symbiosis of Sectarianism, Authoritarianism, and Rentierism in the Saudi State

“File:Tabuk, Saudi Arabia locator map.png” by No machine-readable author provided. NormanEinstein assumed (based on copyright claims). is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

Guest Contributor

Courtney Freer, Assistant Professorial Research Fellow, London School of Economics and Political Science

As tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran continue to rise, with the Iran-backed Houthis having claimed responsibility for an intercepted missile attack on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura port on 7 March (Nereim and Khraiche, 2021) and with reports emerging a week later about another attempted attack (Gulfnews, 2021), it is worth revisiting the role of sectarianism in Saudi domestic politics. I argue that sectarianism sustains the kingdom’s continued authoritarianism, which is further underpinned by a rentier economy financed by hydrocarbon wealth. The Saudi government is therefore uniquely placed to manage a Shii population which it has increasingly come to see as an Iranian fifth column, particularly as regional tensions with Iran mount.

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Featured weekly article: The Symbiosis of Sectarianism, Authoritarianism, and Rentierism in the Saudi State

The Symbiosis of Sectarianism, Authoritarianism, and Rentierism in the Saudi State

By Courtney Freer

Volume 19, Issue 1, pages 88 – 108

Saudi Arabia provides a compelling example of how sectarianism sustains the dynamics of authoritarianism, especially when bolstered by a rentier political economy. In this paper, I investigate three claims about the link between Saudi authoritarianism and sectarianism, as follows: (1) Governing with a sectarian ideology impedes political reform, since it disrupts cross‐sectarian reform coalitions by attacking the sectarian outgroup. (2) The presence of multiple sects, as well as hydrocarbon wealth, allows regimes like that of al‐Saʿud to use divide‐and‐rule tactics to maintain control; it also enables the funding of media and education outlets with the purpose of perpetuating authoritarianism, especially when the authoritarian dynamics are underpinned by a rentier political economy. (3) Despite the authoritarian and rentier dynamics in play, the Saudi government has at times sought at least a degree of inclusion of the Shia minority, depending on the political economy and the relative influence of Shia and Sunni Islamists. Using the existing literature on the Saudi state and historical examples, I aim to clarify the link between sectarianism and authoritarianism in a state in which the Sunni/Shia division, bolstered by a rentier political economy, has emerged as a powerful means of maintaining the political status quo.

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Call for Papers – Special Issue on Identity Politics and African Armies: A Comparative Analysis

Across sub-Saharan Africa, countries are developing security and military capacities to deal with emerging and existing threats. While many of these threats are contemporary —Islamic jihadism and terror cells —other threats originate from structural imbalances that date back to how African states were formed during and after the colonial periods. Although the rivalry between groups (ethnic, tribal, communal, etc.) existed before colonial periods, competition between groups was exacerbated during colonisation periods¹. Indeed in sub-Saharan Africa, the impact of colonisation has continued to shape the way societies form, distribute wealth, support elites’ structures and manipulate institutions. Many sub-Saharan African societies, for example, continue to function through colonial identity-based systems based on ethnic lineages, clans, tribes, and family structures, which influence social, economic, political and inter-communal institutions in these states². In the context of security institutions in the region, many sub-Saharan African states have continued to use the colonial tradition of employing identity-based criteria to develop their armies, recruit forces and provide professional training, which has shaped how military actors and state leaders respond during a crisis.

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Special Feature: International Women’s Day Collection

We in Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (SEN) are actively celebrating International Women’s Day this year by showcasing the research carried out by female colleagues in the field of nationalism studies. Led by two female editors-in-chief, SEN’s editorial board reflects the journal’s commitment to diversity and equality. We have put together a special collection, available free access for 1 month, of all full-length articles authored by one or more female colleagues, published in SEN since 2018. The large collection of articles we showcase in this special issue include articles focused on the intersection between identity, gender, ethnicity and nationalism.

Myth, History, and the Idea of the Nation in Derek Walcott and V.S. Naipaul
Author: Catherine Brown
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Refugees, Patriotism, and Hogarth’s The Gate of Calais (1748)
Author: Kate Grandjouan
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Blog post: Human Rights and the Semantic Contingency of a Razor-Wire Fence

A Story from the Schengen Periphery

“razor wire on fence – silent sentry” by woodleywonderworks is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Blog Editor’s Note

By Barbara Gornik, Science and Research Centre Koper

The image of a razor-wire fence generally evokes connotations associated with oppression, incarceration, loss of freedom, and political violence. Ironically, several border areas in the European Union – a union that has always had a tendency to present itself as a political community where human rights are fully respected – are enclosed by razor-wire fences, with the aim of preventing people’s movement. How is it possible that on the threshold of the 21st century, when we live in the so-called “Age of the Rights”, such political actions are maintained? I claim it is because of the profound transformation of the meaning of the razor-wire fence that empties its violent character and endows it with new implications, including those related to humanitarianism, human rights, and the rule of law. The Slovenian story of the razor- wire fence serves as an example to demonstrate how this transformation of meaning, evident in the semantic contingency of a razor-wire fence, manifests at the level of political practice.

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