sectarian 復習

　このほどのレバノン総選挙はイランが支援するイスラムシーア派の勢力が拡大されたことが浮き彫りとなりました。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
BEIRUT, Lebanon — After the United States toppled Iraq’s dictatorship in 2003, Iran sent arms to militias and backed political parties there, bringing Iraq into its orbit.

After the Arab Spring uprisings early this decade battered the governments of Syria and Yemen, Iran deployed fighters and supported militias. In the chaos of Syria’s long-burning civil war, Iran seized the opportunity to build a military infrastructure there.

In 2015, President Obama offered Iran what might have been the biggest opportunity of all: trading its nuclear program for the lifting of sanctions that had stifled Iran’s economy, paving the way for its reintegration into the international system.

Now President Trump, Israel and the Sunni Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf want to change all that.

(中略)

As a Persian, Shiite-led state, it is a sectarian and ethnic minority in a predominantly Sunni, Arab region. Spurned internationally since a revolutionary Islamic government seized power in 1979, it has no access to Western weapons. And Iran’s poor economy means that its regional foes have outspent it on conventional weapons.

Instead, Iran has invested where it could: in relationships with substate actors that mostly share Iran’s Shiite faith and sense of underdog status.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/05/13/world/middleeast/iran-nuclear-mideast-conflict.html

　“sectarian” に注目しました。『ジーニアス英和辞典第5版』(大修館) によると「党派心の強い，偏狭な、学閥的な」といった意味があります。『ケンブリッジ英英辞典』で定義を確認すると ”strongly supporting a particular religious group and not willing to accept other beliefs” とあり一つの信仰や意見に固執したグループや政党から強い支援を受ける様を表していると窺えます。
　“sectarian” は 「分ける、二つにする」というニュアンスを含む “secare” からきているとわかりました。ちなみに “secare” から派生した語は他に “sector” や “sex” などが挙げられどちらも「(二つ、二つ以上に)分ける」といった意味合いがあると推察できます。
　一方でこれまで勢力を維持したイスラムスンニ派の勢力が衰え、イランの影響力が今後大きくなることは必死です。(Happidra)