Postindependence Middle East states framed ethnic minorities as threats to national integrity

Evidence

The variety of political systems that had replaced the singular Ottoman administration continued to be confronted by diverse and competing ethnic, religious, and communal identities seeking to gain advantages and/or rights within the new political (colonial) boundaries. This was exemplified in a classic collection of essays, which reviewed the sociopolitical situation in the Middle East during the postindependence era. In The Political Role of Minority Groups in the Middle East, the editor argues forcefully that these diverse minorities constituted a threat to the political integrity, regime stability, political order, and dominant group values in these newly established nation-states (McLaurin, 1979:9-10). — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3464