Publication

This text discusses 1) the political and strategic factors that have caused the Middle East’s Shia-Sunni conflict to spill over into West Asia, and 2) how this schism is being used by political actors to buttress up their quest for regional power and influence. More specifically, the text’s author reviews how Shia inroads in Iraq have managed to upset the sectarian balance of power in West Asia; examines how Salafism and its competing strands are cynically being used by both state and non-state actors to exacerbate sectarian divides; and speculates on the impact the divides might increasingly have on the domestic and regional politics of West Asia.