Research, ideas, and leadership for a more secure, peaceful world
In-Person
Study Group
MEI Study Group: Sectarianism in a Changing Middle East
Harvard Faculty, Fellows, Staff, and Students
This Middle East Initiative Study Group will explore the saliency of Islamic sectarianism in the region, and how the divisions between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims affect governance, security, and political movements.
Since 2003, political divisions and conflict in the Middle East have often been described in sectarian terms: Sunni versus Shi‘a. This Fall 2026 study group will explore the meaning and saliency of sectarianism in the region. Why are Shi‘a integrated into some political systems in the region but not others? Did the rise to power of Shi‘a parties in Iraq inspire co-religionists elsewhere? How has salafism contributed to sectarianism? To what extent should Axis of Resistance movements in Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen be understood as Iranian proxies instead of as independent actors? How might Iran's theocracy and the transnational nature of Shi‘a religious authority change after the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei? And, finally, what role - if any - does the United States play in sectarian dynamics in the region?
Schedule
This study group will take place over three sessions on Tuesdays, 4:00pm-5:30pm:
September 15
September 29
October 6
All sessions will take place in Taubman 102 (Cason Conference Room).
About the Instructor
David Siddhartha Patel is a residential Visiting Scholar at the Middle East Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School. His research focuses on religious authority, social order, identity, and state-building in the contemporary Middle East. His book, Order Out of Chaos: Islam, Information, and the Rise and Fall of Social Orders in Iraq (Cornell University Press, 2022), examines the role of mosques and clerical networks in generating order after state collapse and is based upon independent field research he conducted in Basra. He is currently working on a book-length project examining competition and collusion between Shi'a religious authorities in Najaf in Iraq and Qom in Iran and how that relationship constrains varieties of Shi'ism in the world today.
