Lawrence Rubin

Research Note: Documenting Saddam Hussein's Iraq

This research note introduces a major archival resource for scholars and analysts interested in the security, foreign and domestic policies of pre-2003 Iraq. Recently released captured records from Saddam Husseins Iraq are now housed at the Conflict Records Research Center (CRRC), located at the National Defense University in Washington DC, and are available for public use. This expanding collection of documents and audio files of meetings between Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi leaders offers scholars and opportunity to explore topics including Iraqi policies on chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, internal repression, decisions to go to war, policies on terrorism, inter-Arab politics, and foreign relations. Akin to the opening of the Soviet archives, this collection is the first substantial archive on contemporary political and security issues from the Arab world.

The Rise of Official Islam in Jordan

This paper examines the development of ‘Official Islam’, or state-sponsored religious institutions, in Jordan. We argue that Jordans development went through three phases. From its independence in 1947 until the revolution, the state undertook minimal efforts to develop this institution. After the Iranian revolution, however, the state changed course by developing two such institutions – the Advisory Council of Dar al-Ifta (Department for Issuing Fatwas) and the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought. These institutional changes set the stage for the regimes new policy of seeking to manage the public religious space. With the rise of Global Jihadism in the late 1990s, however, the state has increasingly empowered both institutions seeking to actively shape the religious space and debate in Jordan.

The Ascendance of Official Islams

ABSTRACT This article examines how and why four Arab states, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia, and Egypt, have increased official Islam (OI) to counter the new challenges in the regional environment following the Arab uprisings. It argues that regimes responded to the initial rise of popular Islam as well as the threat from extremist groups by enhancing their support for official Islam. In an effort to control the religious space and legitimize their rule, these regimes have allocated financial resources, political capital, and institutional power to elements of official Islam. Furthermore, these regimes’ survival strategies vary according to the regime type and the presence or absence of inherited religious institutions. For example, we find that Tunisia turned to foreign training of their imams and greater cooperation with religious leaders in other countries. By contrast, Egypt, under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, further coopted al-Azhar and OI by setting the agenda for how religion institutions should engage society. Meanwhile, Jordan continued its long-standing development of OI while Morocco further expanded and internationalized OI. These similar goals but distinct approaches demonstrate the importance of the understanding the context in which these specific policies are developed.

How small states acquire status: A social network analysis:

A number of recent studies have recognized the importance of status in international politics. While this developing scholarship has largely focused on great and middle powers, the pursuit of status by small states remains underexplored. For example, many studies claim that small states such as Qatar ‘punch above their weight’ in international politics in pursuit of status. How do small states without significant military power acquire status? How can we assess change in status over time? This paper argues that small states can acquire status by increasing their involvement in international politics and one way states can do this is through mediation efforts. Acting as a mediator for international conflict can enhance a small state’s status relative to its peers by demonstrating its relevance and importance in the regional and international system. This public act of mediation produces commonly held beliefs that the mediator state is an influential player in the international system, thus conferring it more status. Social network analysis reveals that as a state increases its international engagement through mediation activities, it can occupy a more central position in important networks, and a higher ranking within its peer group, indicating an increase in status. This increase in status can be translated to greater influence in international politics.

The Strategic Illogic of Counterterrorism Policy

In the last few years, the Islamic State, or IS, has become a central focus of public debates about U.S. national security. A May 2016 poll by the Pew Research Center reported that 80 percent of Am...