Explaining Sectarian Violence in the Middle East: A Comparative Study of Bahrain and Yemen
Masters thesis — Naval Postgraduate School, 2016. Full text: https://archive.org/details/DTIC_AD1026830
Arguments
Explaining Sectarian Violence in the Middle East: A Comparative Study of Bahrain and Yemen
It separates what makes sectarianism salient from what makes it violent — a failed state is the difference between tension and war.
Sectarian violence isn't ancient hatred erupting — it's produced by four variables: identity-group grievances, elite instrumentalization, the Saudi-Iran regional proxy war, and (decisively) state collapse. Bahrain and Yemen share the first three; only Yemen suffered state collapse, and only Yemen has escalating sectarian violence — the collapse is what turns tension into violence.
Why it matters
It separates what makes sectarianism salient from what makes it violent — a failed state is the difference between tension and war.
Use when: Grievances don't explode on their own — they need the state to fail first.