Editor’s Note

Debates over identity have a prominent role in political discourse the world over. While some in the United States have dismissed identity politics as a distraction, they are playing a greater role in international affairs, as people question and recast the physical and ideological boundaries of the groups they identify with. These questions are being asked about divisions both macro and micro in scale; from angst about what the free world is and whether the United States still leads it, to the disputes over whether Donbas is part of Ukraine or Russia, to the forthcoming referendum on Catalonia’s future in Spain or as an independent state. This reckoning is also prevalent in the Middle East, taking forms ranging from anxiety over the ideology of Western civilization and its compatibility with Islam, to the question of what flags should be flown on public buildings in the Iraq’s Kirkuk Governorate.

This issue begins with two articles that broadly address identity politics in the Middle East in the 21^st century. Virginia Tech’s Ariel Ahram looks at how the Arab Spring weakened the Middle Eastern state system, paving the way for the establishment state-like entities such as the Islamic State, Rojava, and Cyrenaica, and strengthening Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region. Ahram’s article points to identify patterns of behavior that allow him to typify these aspiring states as vertical, horizontal, or systemic challenges to the regional order.

Fanar Haddad of the National University of Singapore follows with an article looking specifically at sectarian identity, building off his considerable oeuvre on the subject that includes his 2011 book, Sectarianism in Iraq: Antagonistic Visions of Unity. In this issue, Haddad brings into question the very idea of sectarianism writ large, showing that scholarly literature and political discourse do not agree about what the term means, except that it’s bad. Sectarianism’s negative connotations, Haddad writes, are used to delegitimize reformist political movements and to besmirch what are otherwise perfectly reasonable concerns. As such, he offers a new set of terms to more clearly discuss this crucial subject without casting aspersions.

The remaining three articles all present case studies that, directly or indirectly, deal with one aspect of identity politics. Yaniv Voller from England’s University of Kent tackles the function of identity head on with the story of how the regime of Saddam Husayn utilized ethnic and religious categorizations in a decades-long attempt to Arabize northern Iraq and quell Kurdish nationalism. Mining the troves of archival documents left behind by the Ba‘th Party and the Iraqi security state, Voller’s source-rich account provides a helpful backgrounder to present-day conflicts and the forthcoming Kurdish independence referendum.

Dr. Janne Bjerre Christensen, formerly of the Danish Institute for International Studies, looks at how Europe’s attempt to reconcile with Iran and assume “shared responsibility” over common problems presents a challenge to European states’ self-identification as promoters of human rights. Bjerre Christensen highlights an aspect of Western-Iranian relations that is often missing from the American public debate: the drug trade and Iran’s role as a major hub within it. The article recounts how countries like Denmark helped fund Iran’s antidrug efforts until concerns over capital punishment mobilized rights groups to demand an end to such aid. Bjerre Christensen argues this withdrawal effectively undermined the more humane aspects of Iran’s antidrug campaign, and she offers suggestions on how Europe can simultaneously advance reconciliation without betraying its values.

The final article is by Menachem Klein of Israel’s Bar-Ilan University. Building off of accounts featured in his 2014 book Lives in Common: Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Hebron, Klein looks for common tropes in the memoirs of prominent Palestinian writers who made visits to their former homes in what is today Israel. Klein focuses in particular on their encounters with the Israelis living or working in the former Palestinian houses, showing the interpersonal dimension of disputes over the identity of buildings, and by extension, the land of Israel/Palestine.

After the articles is our standard Chronology, documenting developments in the region from January through April...