A new project at the London School of Economics and Political Science will examine religiously motivated political mobilization, focusing on the impact of the sectarian quota system, muhasasa ta’fia, adopted in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, in which senior political offices are allocated on the basis of religious and ethnic identities.

A project examining religious diversity in the Middle East has received a significant new grant from the Henry Luce Foundation.

The $350,000 award, the Foundation’s first gift to LSE, is in support of the project studying the underlying dynamics that drive ethnic and religious-based mobilisation across the Middle East.

‘Managing Religious Diversity in the Middle East: The Muhasasa Ta’ifia in Iraq, 2003-2018’, will be headed by Professor Toby Dodge of LSE’s Middle East Centre. By using Iraq as a case study, the three-year project will examine the efforts of Iraq’s post-2003 ruling elite, in partnership with the United States, to build a democratic system to manage religious and ethnic diversity.

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