User:Power&Resistance2020

(- This is my sandbox, which I am now using to practice my Wiki editing skills. Bolding usually happens at the beginning of a Wikipedia article. Next step is trying to make wiki links. I will try this with the word [[bold]])

Article of choice: Sectarianism and Iraq / Sectarianism and Syria (Sectarianism#Iraq, Sectarianism#Syria)

General: Although this is a general, overview article on Wikipedia, the different entries on the Middle East are rather out of balance. There is a rather big section on Lebanon, being more than a quick introduction to the subject, while other entries are very short and lacking historical background. I think this article would benefit from elaborating on certain section like the Iraqi and Syrian one, showing that sectarianism is not only present and an important factor in Lebanon and imbedding the existence of sectarianism in a historical context to show how it came into being and that sectarianism was not always present in its current form. This still has to be done in a quick, general way as it is an article to specifically written on sectarianism in Iraq or Syria, but still doing justice to the "reality."

Iraq: This entry discusses the Sunni-Shii sectarianism after the fall of Saddam Hoessein and during the civil war. In the second paragraph is put in its historical perspective. Should this section not be the beginning of the entry? Maybe this entry should pay more attention to the other sects living in Iraq.

Syria: This entry only discusses the dimension of sectarianism in the Syrian civil war started in 2011, focusing on Alawite, Shii and the Sunni majority. The massacre of Damascus is not mentioned and neither the "starting point" of sectarianism in Syria. Although these events took place in the former Ottoman Empire, the might be of importance to understand contemporary sectarianism and are not mentioned on the section on the Ottoman Empire, which therefore should be added in either of these sections.

- Explaining why sectarianism in Lebanon is much more recognized compared to for example the case of Iraq; In Lebanon sectarianism became entirely embedded in its state structure, due to the different sects institutionalizing and being assigned different roles in the government, where in Iraq sectarianism was not expressed through such official means. (Osman, Khalil, Sectarianism In Iraq: The Making Of State And Nation Since 1920, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, Ny : Routledge (2014): 5)

- How sectarian is the Syrian civil war in fact? Christopher Philips claims in his article that sectarianism is certainly not the only factor in the Syrian civil war and that its relevance depends on the period and space we look at. (Christopher Phillips (2015) Sectarianism and conflict in Syria, Third World Quarterly, 36:2, 357-376, DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2015.1015788, page 358)

Copyedited the Iraq entry

Hi Wikipedia editors, I am working on an assignment to attribute to a Wikipedia entry and think the sections on Iraq and Syria could use some expansion. This would be intended to imbed the existence of sectarianism in a more historical framework, focus on others outings of sectarianism apart from the Syrian and Iraqi civil war and perhaps outbalance the difference between the Lebanese section and other sections. I was wondering if you have any thoughts on elaborating on these entries and for those who have previously worked on this article, if they could tell me why the Iraqi and Syrian entries have not been elaborated before? Thanks a lot!Power&Resistance2020 (talk) 11:25, 21 March 2020 (UTC)