Middle East challenges to nation-states span class, gender, and labor, not just ethnic identity.

Evidence

Middle East studies has both documented their struggles and highlighted their marginalization. Nevertheless, they are not by any means the only sociopolitical movement to challenge the legitimacy of the secular nation-state in the region and to demand civil rights and/or citizenship rights. The migrant workers in the Arab Gulf States (numbering several millions), have demanded civil and labor rights since the early 1970s (Glavanis, 1996). On a smaller scale the bidun (those without nationality in the border areas between Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq) and the zabaliin (rubbish collectors in Cairo) have also demanded civil rights and their recognition as legitimate social groups within these states. Of course numerous women’s and feminist movements have also challenged the legitimacy of many of these nation-states for having failed to give women equal rights. Thus, the problem of identifying the causes which appear to challenge traditional social order, stability, and security in this region, is far more complex than simply the reaffirmation of primordial ethnic and/or religious identities and loyalties. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3539

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines bidun (those without nationality) and zabaliin (Cairo rubbish collectors) as non-ethnic challenger groups.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in how marginalized groups challenge state legitimacy, paralleling the Milgrom/Romberg work on extralegal institutions and citizenship claims.