Civic Space and Sectarianism in the Gulf States: The Dynamics of Informal Civil Society in Kuwait and Bahrain beyond State Institutions

The two small, multi‐sectarian Arab Gulf countries of Kuwait and Bahrain present two cases of the relationship between regimes and the everyday dynamics of sectarianism, offering both significant similarities and differences. In this article we focus on the role of informal spaces in amplifying or negating regime narratives of sectarianism. Both countries have a tradition of parliaments, which in both cases, however, have lost credibility among their citizens. Instead, informal spaces have become important, but they have come to be so in different ways in relation to the specific regime rhetoric of sectarianism: in Bahrain the regime promotes a sectarian narrative of political conflict, which is countered at the societal level, whereas in Kuwait, while the regime sees itself as cross‐sectarian, Kuwaiti society has become increasingly sectarianized. Relating this focus on informal spaces to a discussion of the ideological state apparatus (ISA), we provide a theoretical model for how this can be analyzed on a more general level, contributing to recent discussions of grassroots and non‐formal activism.