Routledge handbook of minorities in the Middle East The Routledge Handbook of Minorities in the Middle East gathers a diverse team of international scholars each of whom provides unique expertise into the status and prospects of minority populations in the region. The dramatic events of the past decade from the Arab Spring protests to the rise of the Islamic state have brought the status of these populations onto centre stage. The overturn of various long term autocratic governments in states such as Tunisia Egypt Libya and Yemen and the ongoing threat to government stability in Syria Iraq and Lebanon have all contributed to a new assertion of majoritarian politics amid demands for democratization and regime change. In the midst of the dramatic changes and latent armed conflict minority populations have been targeted marginalized and victimized. Calls for social and political change have led many to contemplate the ways in which citizenship and governance may be changed to accommodate minorities or indeed if such change is possible. At a time when the survival of minority populations and the utility of the label minority has been challenged this handbook answers the following set of research questions: What are the unique challenges of minority populations in the Middle East How do minority populations integrate into their host societies both as a function of their own internal choices and as a response to majoritarian consensus on their status Finally given their inherent challenges and the vast sweeping changes that have taken place in the region over the past decade what is the future of these minority populations What impact have minority populations had on their societies and to what extent will they remain prominent actors in their respective settings Introduction : reclaiming minorities in the Middle East Paul S. Rowe Majority minority relations in the Middle East Religious minorities in the diversity of Islamic thought David D. Grafton Balancing identities : minorities and Arab nationalism Noah Haiduc Dale The praxis of Islamist models of citizenship in a post Arab revolt Middle East : implications for religious pluralism Mariz Tadros Minorities civil society and the state in the contemporary Middle East : a framework for analysis Paul Kingston Religious minorities Tracing the Coptic question in contemporary Egypt Vivian Ibrahim The Maronites Alexander D. M. Henley Palestinian Christians : situating selves in a dislocated present Mark Daniel Calder Persistent perseverance : a trajectory of Assyrian history in the modern age Sargon George Donabed Christians from a Muslim background in the Middle East Duane Alexander Miller The Yezidis : an ancient people tragedy and struggle for survival Birgül Açıkyıldız Şengül The Mandaeans in Iraq Shak Hanish Baháís in the Middle East Geoffrey Cameron with Nazila Ghanea The Alawites of Syria : the costs of minority rule Leon T. Goldsmith Particularism versus integration : the Druze communities in the modern Middle East Yusri Hazran Alevis in Turkey Ali Çarkoğlu and Ezgi Elçi The Samaritans Monika Schreiber Shii minorities in the Arab world Laurence Louër Ethnic minorities The Kurds in the Middle East David Romano Armenians in the Middle East : from marginalization to the everyday Tsolin Nalbantian The Palestinian minority in the state of Israel : challenging Jewish hegemony in difficult times Aviad Rubin The Bedouin in the Middle East Sarab Abu Rabia Queder The Berbers (Amazigh) Bruce Maddy Weitzman Emerging issues and minorities in the Middle East Sitting at the crossroads : sexual minorities in the Middle East Merouan Mekouar and Jean Zaganiaris Minorities and armed conflict in the Middle East Paul S. Rowe Middle Eastern minorities in diaspora Andreas Schmoller Middle Eastern minorities and the media Elizabeth Monier Western advocacy on behalf of religious minorities : practical reflections Chris Seiple and Andrew Doran