The growing power of armed groups in the Middle East has raised an old question: how do militants recruit new constituents? Researchers have long debated the relative merits of ideology versus services as drivers of militant groups (an argument dubbed “greed vs. grievance”).
Developments in Iraq and Lebanon have given us a better understanding of the interplay of ideas and material rewards for militia recruitment. Legacy militia groups like Hezbollah have been joined by relative newcomers like Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (“Hashd al Shaabi”) at the epicenter of power. On this podcast, Renad Mansour, a leading expert on Iraq’s paramilitaries, joins Sima Ghaddar, a keen observer of Hezbollah, to discuss the new insights about paramilitary recruitment and loyalty that they’ve learned from Iraq and Lebanon.
Participants include:
Promoting America’s Devalued Democracy
What’s Next for the Muslim Brotherhood?
Can the U.S. Help Syria Without Helping Assad?
Saudi Arabia’s Disruptor King
COVID-19 Gathers Force in Middle East
Lebanon, Neoliberalism's Proving Ground
Lessons from the European Union in Crisis
A New World Order after the Pandemic?
Virus and Oil Price Shocks Buffet the Gulf
What’s the Price of Giving Up on Human Rights and International Law?
Rupture in the Iraq–America partnership
Dubai Ports World and a New Form of Imperialism
A Better Explanation for Powerful Armed Groups: Hybridity
How Is Iraq Managing Its Oil?
Popular Protest Redux in Iraq and Egypt
Reviving the United Nations
Rethinking Israel–Palestine’s Stifling Status Quo
Downgrading America’s Commitments in the Middle East
A Smarter Iran Policy
Defining a Progressive Middle East Policy
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