Sectarianism fails to explain the current turmoil in the Arab world. In fact, the sectarian lens of the alleged Sunni-Shiite divide obscures rather than illuminates complex realities on the ground. It masks the challenging political and economic changes that have swept this region, not to mention the ongoing foreign interventions and their impacts. It is true that religious identities continue to be prominent, but sectarianism is something totally different: the deadly politicization of these religious identities.
To assess why most of the Arab world is increasingly becoming a wasteland torn apart by violence committed in the name of sectarian identity and solidarity, we must turn to hidden realities that most observers refuse to see.
