The Role of Political Islam in COVID Times and Regional Developments
Speakers: Alrasheed, R. (Richardson Institute, Lancaster University); Ardovini, L. (Middle East and North Africa Programme, Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI)); Mabon, S. (Sectarianism, Proxies & De-sectarianisation (SEPAD));Zaccara, L. (Gulf Studies Center, Qatar University)
Date: 23 February 2021
Speaker Session Summary
SMA hosted a speaker session, presented by Prof. Simon Mabon (Sectarianism, Proxies & De-sectarianisation (SEPAD)), Dr. Luciano Zaccara (Gulf Studies Center, Qatar University), Dr. Lucia Ardovini (Middle East and North Africa Programme, Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI)), and Dr. Rashed Alrasheed (Richardson Institute, Lancaster University), as a part of its SMA UK MoD Speaker Series.
Prof. Simon Mabon began by stating that the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic increased dialogue among many of the countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC): a group which had the potential to geopolitically reconstruct the region. He also compared COVID-19’s ability to improve the region’s political relationships to the softening of GCC geopolitics after past natural disasters. An example that illustrates the enhancement of political relations in the Gulf is the United Arab Emirates’ use of humanitarian aid to improve its own political image by helping countries with less resources early on in the pandemic. However, as GCC countries began suffering economically and COVID-19 rates increased, countries began to point blame, mostly at Iran, and the prospect for a GCC geopolitical renaissance faltered.
Dr. Luciano Zaccara then focused on the impact that COVID-19 had on Iran internally. He emphasized that there is controversy surrounding almost every aspect of the epidemic in Iran. These controversies include when Iran had its first official case, how Iran concealed data on the spread of COVID-19, how the epidemic has impacted members of Iran’s parliament and ruling elite, and who has access to available vaccines. Furthermore, the ability for several GCC countries to trace their first official COVID-19 case to individuals who recently returned from Iran led to the blame being placed on Iran for the spread of epidemic throughout the region. As a result, several countries closed their borders to Iran, which only exacerbated Iran’s domestic hardships.
Next, Dr. Lucia Ardovini provided a summary of how the ongoing pandemic has strengthened political Islam throughout the GCC. She defined political Islam as non-secular politics that blends the religion of Islam and government together. Dr. Ardovini then asserted that even though political Islam has been under attack by the region’s governments, because government elites are concerned that other religious movements could threaten their control by gaining popular support, the COVID-19 epidemic has only further entrenched religious institutions’ roles as support systems and providers of services. For example, governments in the region have relied on religious institutions to encourage citizens to socially distance and receive vaccinations. Overall, Islamic institutions in countries that have less resources to endure the epidemic have carried more political weight and a larger role in fighting the epidemic.
Dr. Rashed Alrasheed concluded the discussion by focusing on the contention between the large population of expatriate workers in GCC countries who traveled to work in oil fields and those countries’ domestic populations. He stated that these expatriate workers have become targets for the rest of those countries’ populations’ blame as oil prices sink and jobs become scarcer. Moreover, the expatriate population is frequently blamed for the spread of COVID-19, perceived as a drain on the domestic economy, and seen as competition for domestic jobs. Dr. Alrasheed finished by stating that hate speech targeting expatriate workers, increasing xenophobia, criticism of companies that can’t afford to pay their employees, and competition for scarce jobs have resulted in both heightened tensions and the potential for conflict between the expatriate worker population and GCC nations’ domestic populations.
Speaker Session Recording
To access the recording of this panel discussion, please email Ms. Nicole Omundson (nomundson@nsiteam.com).
Prof. Simon Mabon Bio
Professor Simon Mabon is Chair in International Politics at Lancaster University where he directs the Richardson Institute. He holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Leeds and is the director of the SEPAD Project, funded by Carnegie Corporation which looks at the position and contestation of sectarian identities within the contemporary Middle East (www.sepad.org.uk).
Mabon is the author of a number of books on the contemporary Middle East including: Houses built on sand: Sectarianism, revolution and violence in the Middle East (Manchester University Press, 2020); Saudi Arabia and Iran: Soft Power Rivalry in the Middle East (IB Tauris, 2013); and The Struggle for Supremacy: Saudi Arabia and Iran (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming). He has published in a range of Middle East and International Relations journals including: Review of International Studies; Middle East Journal; Middle East Policy; British Journal of Middle East Studies; Politics, Religion and Ideology; and Third World Quarterly. He is the co-editor of a major new Middle Eastern book series with Manchester University Press.
In 2016-7 Mabon served as academic advisor to the House of Lords International Relations committee report into the UK’s relations with the Middle East. He regularly consults with governmental agencies and for international news outlets including the BBC, CNN, CNBC, Sky, Al Jazeera, Al Arabiyya, France 24, Deutsche Welle, and others. He tweets @profmabon.
Dr. Luciano Zaccara Bio
Dr. Luciano Zaccara is Research Assistant Professor in Gulf Politics at the Qatar University, Gulf Studies Center. He is also a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Georgetown University in Qatar, and Director of the Observatory on Politics and Elections in the Arab and Muslim World, Spain.
He obtained a BA in Political Science from National University of Rosario, Argentina, and a PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies from Autonoma University of Madrid, Spain. He has been post-doctoral fellow at Autonoma University of Barcelona; Visiting Researcher at Exeter University, Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies; and Visiting Researcher at Princeton University, Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies. His research interests are Iranian Politics and Foreign Policy; Gulf Politics; International Relations in the Persian Gulf; and Electoral Systems in MENA region. His latest publication is “Foreign Policy of Iran under President Hassan Rouhani's First Term (2013–2017)”, Zaccara, Luciano (Ed.), Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
Dr. Lucia Ardovini Bio
Dr. Lucia Ardovini is a Research Fellow in the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Swedish Institute of International Affairs. Her research focuses on current trajectories of Islamist movements across the MENA region, with a special focus on the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. In particular, she is tracing the organization's restructuring process following the 2013 coup, examining its repercussions on ideology, identity, and organizational structures.
Lucia received her Ph.D in International Relations from Lancaster University in 2017. Her research interests include political Islam, social movements, the politics of resistance and state-society relations.
Dr. Rashed Alrasheed
D. Rashed Alrasheed is a lecturer in Applied Science University, Bahrain and a fellow at the Richardson Institute, Lancaster University. His research interests center around the Middle East Studies with a focus on the Foreign policy, Diplomacy, International Relations and Political Sociology. His also broadly interested in Political Islam, trans-state loyalties, Islamic groups and the relationship between religion, authority, society and state in the Middle East. Rashed is the author of Parliamentary diplomacy: the objectives, mechanisms & roles (Case study of the Bahraini Council of Representatives).
Manama, Bahrain Institute for Political Development, 2017 and the Role of the Bahraini Parliament in Foreign Policy Making. Manama, Bahrain Institute for Political Development, 2018.
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