Inna Rudolf

By Inna Rudolf This briefing note considers whether Hezbollah can be sustainably demilitarised amid the current US-Israel-Iran escalation and its spillover into Lebanon, and what minimum preconditions would be required for demobilisation to hold.

What could be the make-up of the next Iraqi government, as geopolitical drama continues to play out across the Middle East? As Iraq gears up for its pivotal parliamentary elections on Nov. 11, the atmosphere is charged with anticipation. With regional volatility, the fracturing Iran-led resistance axis, and unprecedented divisions within the Shi’a majority, the elections carry immense significance for the country’s trajectory, 20 years after the landmark “purple finger” elections of 2005.

Abstract This article examines how the notion of “a responsibility to resist” as practiced by Iraqi armed factions is being reinterpreted through the prism of those factions’ shared perceptions and experiences as well as the changing dispositions of their leaders. I build on Mohammed Kalantari’s application of SMT in his attempt to dissect how political opportunity structures (POS) are being perceived and acted upon by Shi’a religious scholars in Iraq.