print

Right-Sizing and Right-Peopling:
The Middle East Challenges

Naumkin V.V.,

President, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, director@ivran.ru

elibrary_id: 71351 | RESEARCHER_ID: R-9576-2019

DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2019.06.06

Rubric: Orbis Terrarum: the World of Islam and Contemporary Policy

For citation:

Naumkin V.V. Right-Sizing and Right-Peopling: The Middle East Challenges. – Polis. Political Studies. 2019. No. 6. P. 67-80. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2019.06.06

The study was conducted with support of the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 17-18-01614 “Problems and Prospects of International Political Transformation of the Middle East in Terms of Regional and International Threats”)

Abstract

Political scientists often focus their attention these days on some of the strategies designed to reduce the propensity toward conflict advanced by the authors of ‘right-sizing’ and ‘right-peopling’ concepts. This also involves the possibility for allowing such strategies to be applied to the current situation in the Middle East, where the system of nation states is seriously challenged by a number of factors. Particular emphasis is placed by the author upon the modified theory of consocionalism, originally developed by Arendt Lijphart and Gerhard Lembruch in the 1960s, and likewise upon its interpretation by contemporary authors. Certain questions featuring on the agenda, when a choice of available options can be made within the framework of various strategies, such as federalization, are addressed in detail. The practices adopted by different regimes in the Middle East in this respect are reviewed, including relatively successful ones and those that failed to cope with the tasks they faced, with a highlight on their strengths and weaknesses. It is vividly shown that the basic reasons underlying the difficulty in overcoming the conflict intensity and in meeting the challenges to statehood relate to the deeply divided character of Middle Eastern societies, the strong influence of non-governmental actors, the interference of external arbitrators and sectarianization. The problems arising in connection with an inappropriate choice or inadequate use of various strategies are identified. The controversial outcomes of the actions accomplished by the national elites over the recent years are exemplified by Lebanon, and
Israel/Palestine, which in the latter case includes the ‘defeat of consociation’.

Keywords

right-sizing, right-peopling, Middle East, nation-states, сonsociationalism, right-shaping, ummah, non-state actors, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

 Full Text

Ahmed A. 2018. Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration and Identity. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.

Hamid Sh. 2016. Islamic Exceptionalism: How the Struggle over Islam Is Reshaping the World. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Lustick I. 2001. Thresholds of Opportunity and Barriers to Change in the Right-Sizing of States. – Right- Sizing the State. The politics of moving borders. Ed. by B. O’Leary et al. Oxford: Oxford University Press. P. 74-101. https://doi.org/10.1093/0199244901.003.0003

McCants W. 2015. The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

McGarry J., O’Leary B. 1995. Explaining Northern Ireland: Broken Images. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell.

O’Leary B., Lustick I., Callaghy Th. 2001. Right-Sizing the State. The Politics of Moving Borders. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Salloukh B. 2018. A New Grand Bargain for the Middle East: The Search for a New Consociational and Geopolitical Order. – Order from Ashes. New Foundations for Security in the Middle East. Ed. by M.W. Hanna and T. Cambanis. New York: The Century Foundation Press. P. 215-232. URL: https://production-tcf.imgix.net/app/uploads/2018/02/03152047/a-new-grand-bargain-for-the-middle-east.pdf (accessed 14.09.2019).

The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation. 1993. Ed. by J. McGarry, B. O’Leary. London, New York: Cornell University Press.

Wiktorowicz Q. 2004. Islamic Activism: A Social Movement Theory Approach. Bloomington, Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.

Yiftachel O. 2001. ‘Right-Sizing’ or ‘Right-Shaping’? Politics, Ethnicity, and Territory in Plural States. – Right-Sizing the State. The Politics of Moving Borders. Ed. by B. O’Leary et al. Oxford: Oxford University Press. P. 358-387. https://doi.org/10.1093/0199244901.003.0012

Baranovsky V.G., Naumkin V.V. 2018. World of Faith and World of Disbelief: Expansion and Reduction of Religiosity. – Polis. Political Studies. No. 6. P. 8-31. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2018.06.02 (accessed 14.09.2019)

Baranovsky V.G., Naumkin V.V. 2018. The Middle East in the Changing Global Context: The Key Trends of Centennial Development. – World Economy and International Relations. Vol. 62. No. 3. Р. 5-19. (In Russ.) www.doi.org/10.20542/0131-2227-2018-62-3-5-19

Kolotusha V. 2013. Skol’ko stoit zhizn’ posla v trotilovom ekvivalente? Bejrutskie zarisovki, 1986-1990 gg. [How Much is an Ambassador’s Life Worth in TNT Equivalent? Beirut Sketches 1986-1990]. Moscow: IOS RАS. (In Russ.)

Kul’turnaya slozhnost’ sovremennykh natsij [Cultural Complexity of Modern Nations]. 2016. Ed. by V.А. Tishkov, E.I. Filippova. Moscow: ROSSPEN. (In Russ.)

Lijphart A. 1997. Democracy in Plural Societies. A Comparative Exploration (Russ ed.: Lijphart A. 1997. Demokratiya v mnogosostavnykh obshhestvakh. Moscow: Аspect Press. 287 p.).

Naumkin V.V. 2015. Deeply Divided Societies in the Middle East: Conflict, Violence, and Foreign Intervention. – Moscow University Journal of World Politics. Vol. 25. No. 1. P. 66-96. (In Russ.) URL: https://fmp.msu.ru/attachments/article/247/NAUMKIN_2015_1.pdf (accessed 14.09.2019)

Naumkin V.V. 2017. Crisis of the Nation-States in the Middle East. – International Trends. Vol. 15. No. 2. P. 27-43. (In Russ.) www.doi.org/10.17994/IT.2017.15.2.49.2

Zvyagelskaya I.D. 2017. Sovereignty and Statehood in the Middle East – the Unbearable Fragility of Being. – Outlines of Global Transformations: Politics, Economics, Law. Vol. 10. No. 2. P. 97-109. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.23932/2542-0240-2017-10-2-97-109

See also: