The Middle East is Violence: On the Limits of Comparative Approaches to the Study of Armed Conflict

For years, there has been debate as to whether or not the Middle East experiences more armed conflict - and for different reasons - than other regions in the world. Absent is any consideration of the grounds upon which such regional comparisons are possible. Rather than providing a general account of regions, this article instead provides a theory of the Middle East based on the violent practices that have made and reproduced the Middle East as a region, both materially and ideationally. Though critical of comparative approaches to the study of armed conflicts, this argument models a different way to understand them.