Identity and state building over time: political institutions and Syria’s sectarianism-nationalism balance

This chapter examines the interaction of Syria’s multi-sectarian identity heritage and varying regime types or political institutional configurations. These have, over time co-constituted each other, interacting in a circular form in which identity affects the institutional design of the state and the latter affects the former. We test the institutionalist approach that charts how political institutions can help produce, reproduce or transform identities, depending on their design and strength; conversely, variations in identity are likely to affect the kinds of institutions that can be created. This approach is deployed to track the Syrian trajectory from independence thru the Uprising, paying special attention to how big differences in governance (liberal oligarchy; authoritarian populist, authoritarian post-populist) have interacted to mute or reproduce sectarianism.