Sectarian Identities in Bahrain and Kuwait : Constructing and Contesting the State

Mabon, Simon and Menshawy, Mustafa (2026) Sectarian Identities in Bahrain and Kuwait : Constructing and Contesting the State. Ethnopolitics, 25 (2). pp. 191-206. ISSN 1744-9057

Abstract

This paper critically reflects on protest and power sharing in Bahrain and Kuwait. Using the work of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, the paper looks at the interrelational dynamics of protest and power sharing within Bahraini and Kuwaiti political fields. In the paper, we critically reflect on the position of sectarian identities within and across the bargains that shape the political field and the forms of protest that often emerge. We argue that the political field is shaped by formal and informal bargains and competition between different actors, seeking to impose “principles of vision and division”—competing visions of order and habitus—and that these interrelational dynamics shape both the nature of power sharing and protest.