The Emergence of Minorities in the Middle East: The Politics of Community in French Mandate Syria

Why, in the years around 1920, did the concept of “minority’ suddenly become prominent in public aff airs worldwide? Benjamin White uses a study of Syria under the French mandate to show what historical developments led people to start describing themselves and others as "minorities’. Through close attention to what changed in French-mandate Syria, and what those changes meant, White argues for a careful reappraisal of the term.