Power, Identity and Securitization in Middle East: Regional Order after the Arab Uprisings

In 1998 Barnett argued against the grain of realist IR theory, contending that 'the conflicts between Arab governments have concerned the norms of Arabism and not the balance of power'. Ever since, the debate on regional order has been marked less by realist perspectives based on materialist understanding of power, and more by pragmatic middle positions as can be found with the English School, Historical Sociology and soft constructivist approaches. This piece will argue along the same lines, contending that norms and identity politics remain central to the study of Middle East regional politics, also in the post-2011 era. In a second move it will however also suggest that the rise of identity politics and heightened regional insecurity related to these identities, calls for an introduction of insights from securitization theory.