Is Shia-Sunni Violence on the Rise? Exploring New Data on Intra-Muslim Organised Violence 1989-2017

Author(s): Daniel Finnbogason, Göran Larsson, Isak Svensson
Journal Title: Civil War
Publisher(s): Taylor & Francis Online
Publication Year: 2019

Based on a data-set covering 1989–2017, this study confirms that organized violence across the Shia-Sunni divide represents a major issue in international relations and armed conflicts. In 2017 alone, 44 percent of all fatalities in organized violence worldwide occurred in violence along this fault line, a figure primarily driven by the intensity of the Syrian civil war. Overall, the study shows that states, rebel groups and militias drive most organized violence, rather than communities. In addition, civil wars in which there is a Shia-Sunni identity marker have been increasingly internationalized, whereby foreign states have intervened with troops to support their co-religionists.

Publisher's Website