Making Sense of Syrian Sectarianism: Book Review
By Marc Lynch
June 10th 2025
Syria’s new government has made significant progress in recent weeks, but still has a tough road ahead of it. On the positive side, the Trump administration appears to be following through on its commitment during the Saudi Gulf summit to lift sanctions on Syria and support its transition. Most of the world’s governments – including some hardcore anti-Islamist ones like the UAE and Egypt, and even Iraq’s which has extremely nasty memories of the new president – seem willing to look past Ahmed Sharaa’s recent past as a jihadist insurgency leader. It’s genuinely hard to think of a reversal of fortunes as complete as the former head of an al-Qaeda franchise being invited to address the UN General Assembly and visit Washington. With any luck, this diplomatic recognition and lifting of sanctions will open the gates for desperately needed reconstruction assistance, humanitarian aid, and the safe repatriation of refugees.
On the other side, Syria continues to struggle with sectarian violence. While Sharaa and the regime have promised tolerance and pluralism, the path towards stability is pockmarked with deep legacies of violence and repression, unaddressed memories and resentments of past atrocities, the simmering potential of an emergent Asadist insurgency, and cynical external actors willing to take advantage. The worst of those thus far continues to be Israel, which has brazenly seized indefinitely a wide swathe of territory as its new “buffer zone”, bombs at will across the country, and warned the Syrian government against deploying troops in the south (while still holding it responsible for missile launches from the territory from which it is unable to control). One of the reasons Israel has given for its aggressive moves in Syria has been the protection of the Druze, whether or not they asked for such help.
Anyone who wants to understand the deeper context of these sectarian tensions, how they emerged, and what they might mean for the future of a unified Syria should read Sectarianism and Civil War in Syria, the excellent new volume edited by Raymond Hinnebusch and Morten Valbjørn. Sectarianism and Civil War in Syria brings together more than a dozen scholars, many of them younger Syrian academics based in Europe and the UK. This impressive collection of scholars examines the question of sectarianism from a wide range of empirical and theoretical perspectives which offers essential background and novel insights.
Sectarianism and Civil War in Syria is really two books in one, framed by a theoretical tour de force introduction and an incisive conclusion both co-authored by Hinnebusch and Valbjørn. The introduction walks readers through the vast literatures on sectarianism, laying out sharply competing perspectives – from those rooted in ancient hatreds and deep cultural essence to those focused on the machinations and manipulations of what I once called the “entrepreneurs of cynical sectarianism”. They then advance a multi-level theoretical synthesis rooted in sectarianization and securitization within a context of variable stateness shaped by a distinctive historical sociology and international context. Their theoretical overview and shrewd judgements will help anyone organize their thinking about the chaotic and complex Syrian environment (and also help graduate students prepare for their comprehensive exams).
Part two of the book is all Hinnebusch: five single-authored chapters presenting the full analytical and historical analysis of one of the world’s top experts on Syria and the broader historical sociology of the Middle East. Hinnebusch, as in his earlier work, approaches sectarianism through an historical and an international lens, showing how Syria’s unique sectarian map emerged as the product of state building and international competition. He then traces the changes in sectarian identity and mobilization during the civil war, highlighting the interaction between regime strategies, external interference, and endogenous changes within the opposition and the shattered Syrian public.
Hinnebusch’s chapters alone would have been a significant contribution to the literature. Instead, his analysis is profoundly enriched by the contributions of the mostly younger and mostly Syrian scholars (most of them linked in some way to his Syria Studies program at St Andrews). Some of the chapters dig deep into highly local contexts such as Homs and Damascus (Ola Rifai), Aleppo (Maria Chalhoub), Hama (Samer Bakkour), Idlib (Bakkour and Gareth Stansfield), and Deir ez-Zour (Haian Dukhan, Sinan Hawat and Mohammed Hassan). Particularly relevant to the current sectarian crisis are chapters on the Druze (Maria Kastrinou, Salam Said, Rawad Jarbouh, and Steven Emery), the Syrian coast (Talip al-Khayer), and Christians (Rana Khalaf). It’s capped off by a reflection on urbicide and space in Damascus and Aleppo by Gabriel Pla, and a full conclusion by the editors.
This book review by Professor Marc Lynch is also available here Making sense of Syrian sectarianism (abuaardvarkghost.ghost.io)