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Sectarianism and the Arab Spring: The Case of the Kuwaiti Shiʿa
Author(s) -
Albloshi Hamad H.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the muslim world
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.106
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1478-1913
pISSN - 0027-4909
DOI - 10.1111/muwo.12127
Subject(s) - sectarianism , opposition (politics) , politics , political science , ancient history , political economy , law , history , sociology
This paper addresses the Arab Spring and Shiʿism in Kuwait. Generally, the Kuwaiti Shiʿa, who constitute 25 to 30 percent of Kuwaiti society, have been supportive of the Bahraini uprising of 2011. However, the Kuwaiti Shiʿa have opposed the Syrian revolution, and they did not support the opposition movement in Kuwait. The Shiʿa's relationship with the authorities and the opposition in the country has changed, and this paper explores this change. Sectarianism may be one reason for their double standards toward the Arab Spring, including the events in Kuwait, and this is an important issue to explore from the perspective of the Kuwaiti Shiʿa. This paper relies on many interviews with Shiʿa political and academic figureheads in Kuwait, to understand their views on the Arab revolt of 2011 and their relationship to the opposition movement in Kuwait.[Note 1. Acknowledgment: I would like to thank Muhammad al‐Habeeb for ...]