The Sunni Spring: Counter-Attack in the War for Islamic Civilization
Abstract
This monograph examines the Arab Spring in light of the past half century of efforts in transnational Arab identity formation, and thus considers its links to Arab Nationalism and Pan-Islamism. With a focus on Syria and the sectarian nature of that conflict, the monograph considers the Arab Spring in juxtaposition to the widely-held notions of Shia revival and Shia Crescent. It then speculates on what may be happening at the transnational identity or civilizational level in the Middle East, and considers three possible long-term outcomes. The Arab Spring ushers in a new paradigm of polarity for the region that is neither one of democracy vs. despotism, nor of East vs. West. In its essence, it is neither an embrace nor a rejection of the West but a counter-reaction to the Shia Revival understood to have occurred since 2003. It is a Sunni Islamist Spring (i.e., a revival of a revanchist Sunni Islam eager to correct the perceived marginalization of Sunni Islam in recent history). It is not a new birth of political freedom for "The Arabs" as a political or ethnic whole. In sweeping away whatever lingered of a past paradigm of secular former regimes, the Arab Spring is the harbinger of a new religious and political identity that is explicitly Islamic, exclusively Sunni, and not limited to Arabs. Inherent in this Sunni counter-revival is a counter-reaction to the perceived threat of a rising Shi'ism. It will move the Arab World away from its ethnic but minority-inclusive identification of Arab nationalism and Pan-Islamism and toward a greater unity with non-Arab Sunni powers. Being an explicitly Sunni phenomenon, it will heighten the divide in the Arab world between Sunni and Shia.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 06, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA570042
Entities
People
- Pearse R. Marschner
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College