"We Are All Coethnics: State Identities and Foreign Interventions in Violent Conflict," with Reyko Huang, Journal of Global Security Studies (forthcoming)
In this article, we draw on insights from the comparative study of ethnic identity to explain foreign intervention decisions. Ethnic constructivism has been developed to explain domestic and group identity politics, but we demonstrate its utility for explaining state behavior in international politics. Based on the core premise of ethnic constructivism, we argue that coreligionism and coethnicity are poor predictors of states’ foreign policies. Rather, states create narratives of ethnic affinity in the service of political objectives. Our findings offer robust support for our theory while providing theoretical and methodological implications for the study of “religious” and other identity-based conflicts in international politics.
In this article, we draw on insights from the comparative study of ethnic identity to explain foreign intervention decisions. Ethnic constructivism has been developed to explain domestic and group identity politics, but we demonstrate its utility for explaining state behavior in international politics. Based on the core premise of ethnic constructivism, we argue that coreligionism and coethnicity are poor predictors of states’ foreign policies. Rather, states create narratives of ethnic affinity in the service of political objectives. Our findings offer robust support for our theory while providing theoretical and methodological implications for the study of “religious” and other identity-based conflicts in international politics.
“Religious Parties and Ideological Change," with A.Kadir Yildirim, Political Science Quarterly (forthcoming)
The article adopts a political economy approach to examine the multidirectional paths that ideological change within religious parties can take. Comparing the theocratic and secular political systems in Iran and Turkey, we show how "political" Islam leads to "social" and "civil" Islam and reverses to authoritarianism. We pair these two dissimilar cases to explain their equifinality.
“Factional Politics in the Iran-Iraq War.” Journal of Strategic Studies, vol. 42, no. 3-4 (2019): 480-506.
This article examines the domestic causes of the Iran–Iraq War. It contends that an underexplored and yet critical driving force behind Iran’s prosecution of the war was factional politics. Along with state-level geo-strategic, regime-level security and individual-level ideological concerns, factional factors must also be examined to understand Tehran's war-time decisions. Iran’s factional rivalries began between the Islamists and the nationalists; and between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the army at war’s outbreak, and eventually penetrated into the heart of the Islamist camp between the militant clerics and the IRGC.
“Factional Politics in the Iran-Iraq War.” Journal of Strategic Studies, vol. 42, no. 3-4 (2019): 480-506.
This article examines the domestic causes of the Iran–Iraq War. It contends that an underexplored and yet critical driving force behind Iran’s prosecution of the war was factional politics. Along with state-level geo-strategic, regime-level security and individual-level ideological concerns, factional factors must also be examined to understand Tehran's war-time decisions. Iran’s factional rivalries began between the Islamists and the nationalists; and between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the army at war’s outbreak, and eventually penetrated into the heart of the Islamist camp between the militant clerics and the IRGC.
“Causes of the U.S. Hostage Crisis in Iran: The Untold Account of the Communist Threat.” Security Studies, vol. 26, no. 4 (2017): 665-697. Reviewed in H-Diplo/International Security Studies Forum by John Limbert, December 2017
“Causes of the U.S. Hostage Crisis in Iran: The Untold Account of the Communist Threat.” Security Studies, vol. 26, no. 4 (2017): 665-697. Reviewed in H-Diplo/International Security Studies Forum by John Limbert, December 2017
This article provides a revisionist account of the occupation of the US embassy in Tehran in November 1979, one of the most conspicuous manifestations of anti-Americanism in recent history. It questions the conventional wisdom that the Islamists’ takeover of the embassy was a grassroots reaction to American policies. Instead, it introduces a critical overlooked factor and argue that the Hostage Crisis can be better explained as a preemptive act by the Islamists to outbid the leftists’ anti-American activities.
“Assessing (In)Security After the Arab Spring: The Case of Egypt.” PS: Political Science & Politics, vol. 46, no. 4 (2013): 727-735.
Egypt transitioned from a large-scale uprising against one of the region's longest-standing rulers to an even more massive revolt that led to the military ousting the country's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi. Between the two popular uprisings, new pacts and unlikely alliances emerged, deepened, and, in some cases, then disappeared. For its part, the army evolved from being an accomplice of the old regime, to then being an uneasy partner of the ascendant Muslim Brotherhood and, most recently, on to rebranding itself as an ally of non-Islamists and a protector of the popular will in 2013. Surprisingly, however, despite their presumed ideological proximity to the Brotherhood, many Salafists went on to back the military's removal of Morsi in July 2013, but then did not lend support to the interim government that was constructed in wake of Morsi's fall. In this multilayered, fast-paced political environment, mass protests, arrests, and violence have become routine.
“The Beloved Great Satan: The Portrayal of the US in the Iranian Media since 9/11.” Journal of the European Society for Iranian Studies, vol. 1, no. 1 (2006): 63-78.
In the absence of political parties in Iran, newspapers have become the main battleground for the country’s domestic tensions. Since 9/11, the issues surrounding the United States and its relationship with Iran have become an important part of the struggle between reformists and conservatives. Each side attempts to portray the U.S. in a way that undermines the other side in order to maximize its own influence and popularity among the people.