The Future Of Sectarian Relations in the Middle East

Abstract

Sectarianism particularly the Sunni-Shi'a variant is a prominent feature of the Middle East landscape. From the civil wars raging in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, to regional competition between Iran and Saudi Arabia, to governing strategies in religiously mixed countries, sectarianism is shaping regional developments. Sectarianism, which is difficult to measure or separate from other factors with which it may be interacting, is also a focus area for the U.S. intelligence community, which is tasked with judging its salience and forecasting its evolution over time. This Perspective is designed to assist the intelligence community by presenting scenarios for the evolution of sectarianism in the Middle East over the coming decade.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2017
Accession Number
AD1053234

Entities

People

  • Heather E. Williams
  • Jeffrey Martini
  • William Young

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Arabia
  • Civil War
  • Communities
  • Corporations
  • Culture (Social Sciences)
  • Demography
  • Department Of State
  • Governments
  • Intellectual Property
  • Intelligence Analysis
  • Intelligence Collection
  • Intelligence Community
  • Law
  • Middle East
  • Military Operations
  • National Security
  • New York
  • Public Policy
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Sectarian Violence
  • Security
  • Social Sciences
  • Societies
  • Terrorism
  • Terrorists
  • Unified Combatant Commands
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United States
  • Violence

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Political Violence and Terrorism Studies.
  • Systems Analysis and Design