Introduction: Transformation of nationalism and diaspora in the digital age

This introduction to the four papers that make up the themed section locates them in the wider theoretical, comparative and historical perspectives from which they originate. First, it places the study of communalist or sectarian identities in the Middle East in broader comparative debates about the study of ethnic and nationalist identities. It then examines the causalities underpinning the shifting relationship between these different identities in the Middle East. Taking modernity as a starting point, it looks at the integration of the region into a global capitalist market from the mid‐19th century and the consequences of this transformation. It then examines the external imposition and growth in coherence and capacity of geographically delineated states. It details the influence that neo‐liberal policy prescriptions have had on those states and their relationship to society. Finally, it examines the role that a series of extended wars played in the forging of and competition between different sets of identities, trans‐state Arab nationalism, state‐based nationalism and religious and ethnic identities