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Sectarian democracies are multifactional countries where the faction with the greatest power has a democratic government that is discriminatory towards the other faction.
Present day Iraq is a sectarian democracy where the Shiite controls the majority of the government. This is partly because Shiites in Iraq are the dominant religious group and partly because many Sunnis boycotted the elections. Despite the sectionality of the government it must be remembered that there are elected Sunnis and Kurds in power.
Under apartheid, South Africa was a sectarian democracy which some called a "white-only democracy". [1] White South Africans enjoyed the right to vote and to participate in the political process whereas the Black South Africans were oppressed. The end of apartheid brought about consociationalist-like government allowing for powersharing between Black and White South Africans.
The political power was concentrated in the hands of the Protestant Unionists and this led to sectarian violence until the establishment of a consociationalist-like government which allowed powersharing between the Protestant Unionists and the Catholic Nationalists.[ citation needed ]
The Republic of South Africa is a parliamentary representative democratic republic. The President of South Africa serves both as head of state and as head of government. The President is elected by the National Assembly and must retain the confidence of the Assembly in order to remain in office. South Africans also elect provincial legislatures which govern each of the country's nine provinces.
Muqtada al-Sadr is an Iraqi Shia Scholar, politician and militia leader. He is the leader of the Sadrist Movement and the leader of the Peace Companies, a Shia militia that is a reformation of the previous militia he led during the American military presence in Iraq, the Mahdi Army. The Jerusalem Post reported on 7 December 2019 that an armed drone attack targeted Sadr. He is widely known to be the one who ordered the attack on the Shia Cleric Sayed Abdul Majeed Al Khoei in April 2003 while Al Khoei was inside the shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf. A warrant for his arrest was issued by the Iraqi Juristical System but Moqtada has avoided imprisonment to this day.
Sectarianism is a political or cultural conflict between two groups often related to the form of government they live under. Prejudice, discrimination, or hatred can arise in these conflicts, depending on the political status quo and if one group holds more power within the government. Often, not all members of these groups are engaged in the conflict. But as tensions rise, political solutions require the participation of more people from either side within the country or polity where the conflict is happening. Common examples of these divisions are denominations of a religion, ethnic identity, class, or region for citizens of a state and factions of a political movement.
Sectarian violence and/or sectarian strife is a form of communal violence which is inspired by sectarianism, that is, between different sects of one particular mode of an ideology or religion within a nation/community. Religious segregation often plays a role in sectarian violence.
The 2003–2006 phase of the Iraqi insurgency began following the completion of the invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein's rule in May 2003. The armed insurgent opposition to the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq and the post-2003 Iraqi government lasted until early 2006, when it escalated into a civil war, the most violent phase of the Iraq War.
Al-Awda is a secular organization in Iraq. Al-Awda's name began appearing in Iraq in June 2003 in anti-occupation graffiti and leaflets in Baghdad and to the north and west of the capital. The group is led by Mohammed Younis al-Ahmed, who is based in Syria.
An ethnocracy is a type of political structure in which the state apparatus is controlled by a dominant ethnic group to further its interests, power and resources. Ethnocratic regimes typically display a 'thin' democratic façade covering a more profound ethnic structure, in which ethnicity – and not citizenship – is the key to securing power and resources. An ethnocratic society facilitates the ethnicization of the state by the dominant group, through the expansion of control likely accompanied by conflict with minorities or neighbouring states. A theory of ethnocratic regimes was developed by critical geographer Oren Yiftachel during the 1990s and later developed by a range of international scholars.
Apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa from 1948 until the early 1990s. Apartheid was characterized by an authoritarian political culture based on baasskap, which ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation's minority white population. According to this system of social stratification, white citizens had the highest status, followed by Asians and Coloureds, then black Africans. The economic legacy and social effects of apartheid continue to the present day.
The 2006 al-Askari Shrine bombing occurred on 22 February 2006 at approximately 6:44 a.m. local Iraqi time, and targeted the al-Askari Shrine in the city of Samarra, Iraq. The attack on the mosque, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, has not been claimed by any group; the then President of the United States, George W. Bush, suggested from "evidence" that the bombing was an al-Qaeda plot. Although the mosque was severely damaged from the blast, there were no casualties.
Nouri Kamil Muhammad-Hasan al-Maliki, also known as Jawad al-Maliki or Abu Esraa, is secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party and was the Prime Minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014 and a Vice President of Iraq from 2016 to 2018. Al-Maliki began his political career as a Shia dissident under Saddam Hussein's regime in the late 1970s and rose to prominence after he fled a death sentence into exile for 24 years. During his time abroad, he became a senior leader of the Islamic Dawa Party, coordinated the activities of anti-Saddam guerrillas and built relationships with Iranian and Syrian officials whose help he sought in overthrowing Saddam. Al-Maliki worked closely with United States and coalition forces in Iraq following their departure by the end of 2011.
Ibn Ǧibrīn or Abdullah ibn Abdulrahman ibn Jebreen (1933-13 July 2009) was a Salafi Saudi-based cleric and a member of the powerful Senior Clerics Association and Permanent Committee for Islamic Research and Issuing Fatwas in Saudi Arabia.
Bahrain's record on human rights has been described by Human Rights Watch as "dismal", and having "deteriorated sharply in the latter half of 2010". Their subsequent report in 2020 noted that the human rights situation in the country had not improved.
Shia and Sunni Islam are the two major denominations of Islam. They chose sides following the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in AD 632. A dispute over succession to Islamic prophet Muhammad as a caliph of the Islamic community spread across various parts of the world, which led to the Battle of Jamal and Battle of Siffin. After the death of Prophet Muhammad, Muslims had a disagreement; Sunnis believed that Muhammad's successor should be Abu Bakr and Omar, and the Shias believed that his successor should be Ali. The dispute intensified greatly after the Battle of Karbala, in which Hussein ibn Ali and his household were killed by the ruling Umayyad Caliph Yazid I, and the outcry for revenge divided the early Islamic community, which is known today as the Islamic schism to differentiate it from the Christian schism that happened later.
The 2007 al-Askari mosque bombing occurred on 13 June 2007 at around 9 am local time at one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, the al-Askari Mosque, and has been attributed by Iran to the Iraqi Baath Party. While there were no injuries or deaths reported, the mosque's two ten-story minarets were destroyed in the attacks. This was the second bombing of the mosque, with the first bombing occurring on 22 February 2006 and destroying the mosque's golden dome.
Internal resistance to apartheid in South Africa originated from several independent sectors of South African society and took forms ranging from social movements and passive resistance to guerrilla warfare. Mass action against the ruling National Party (NP) government, coupled with South Africa's growing international isolation and economic sanctions, were instrumental in leading to negotiations to end apartheid, which began formally in 1990 and ended with South Africa's first multiracial elections under a universal franchise in 1994.
The Saudi government does not conduct census on religion and ethnicity but some sources estimated the percentage of Shiites in Saudi Arabia is roughly 10-15% of approximately 23 million natives of Saudi Arabia. The modern Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was formed in 1932 by the House of Saud, who are followers of a movement within Sunni Islam known as Salafis. Followers of the Wahhabite mission—who dominate religious institutions, courts and education of the kingdom—believe that "Muslims should return to the interpretation of Islam found in the classical texts, the Quran and the Sunnah." They also believe that "Muslims who seek intercession from holy men, such as the imams revered by Shiites, are not 'true' Muslims."
Sectarianism can be defined as a practice that is created over a period of time through consistent social, cultural and political habits leading to the formation of group solidarity that is dependent upon practices of inclusion and exclusion. Sectarian discrimination focuses on the exclusion aspect of sectarianism and can be defined as 'hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group', for example the different denominations of a religion or the factions of a political belief.
Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Ahmed Qassim is Bahrain's leading Shia cleric and a politician. He is the spiritual leader of Al Wefaq, Bahrain's biggest opposition society. He is the founder and leader of the Islamic Enlightenment Institution.
Anti-Shias is hatred of, prejudice, discrimination, persecution, and violence against Shia because of their religious beliefs, traditions, and cultural heritage. The term was first defined by Shia Rights Watch in 2011, but it has been used in informal research and written in scholarly articles for decades.
A non-denominational Muslim is a Muslim who does not belong to, does not self-identify with, or cannot be readily classified under one of the identifiable Islamic schools and branches.