The Routinisation of Authority: A Comparative Perspective on Marginalisation,Socio-economic Factors and Perceptions on Authority in Contemporary Shiʿa Islam

Abstract

The paper addresses the main contextual drivers of routinisation of Shiʿa religious, social, and political authority in the Middle East and beyond. It has three objectives: to enhance understanding of the socioeconomic conditions of Shiʿites in countries with a considerable Shiʿite population in the Middle East and beyond; to analyse possible patterns of marginalisation; and to show how authority is viewed. A conceptual framework for the routinisation of religious authority, focusing on Shiʿa Islam, is used to analyse twenty-one national surveys in ten countries with a sample size of 33,922, including approximately 14,000 Shiʿite respondents. In addition to confessional differences, patterns are also explored in attitudes to democratic versus authoritarian rule. The paper concludes that in times of turmoil the routinisation of authority will be marked either by polarisation accompanied by traditionalisation, or by a call for the rationalisation of charismatic authority by a large proportion of the Shiʿite constituencies, showing a multifaceted pattern of perceptions of religious authority in the political realm.