Publications by James Worrall
International Spectator, 2021
In recent years, Oman has been recognised as a key mediator in the Gulf and the wider Middle East... more In recent years, Oman has been recognised as a key mediator in the Gulf and the wider Middle East. The successful completion of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, in particular, firmly cemented its reputation as a peacemaker. To fully understand Omani mediation practices in the region, Muscat’s mediation must be placed within the context of the Sultanate’s wider foreign policy, and all known mediations must be assembled in one place in order to develop a typology to better understand forms and patterns. Ultimately, mediation both serves and is enabled by the Sultanate’s foreign policy. This was not an inevitable outcome. Over the course of Qaboos’ reign, Oman has developed into an ‘Interlocutor State’, in which the practice of mediation has become an important tool in furthering the central goals of preserving Oman’s independent foreign policy, and thus ultimately the Sultanate’s sovereignty and security itself.
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Civil Wars, 2020
Order informs an actor’s context, studying order and accounting for the rules and relationships u... more Order informs an actor’s context, studying order and accounting for the rules and relationships underpinning that order can tell us a great deal about how power and authority is constructed, renegotiated and contested. Order represents a promising prism and field of study for understanding civil wars. This article begins by assessing the ‘order turn’ in the literature over the past decade. From this basis we identify four key areas that represent important elements within the new ordering agenda that promise to add significantly to the study of order within the discipline. These include: 1) Mapping order(s) to better account for their complexity, especially by disaggregating internal orders within institutions and organisations; 2) Recognising civilians as individual and collective agents, moving beyond the civilians-as-victims paradigm to demonstrate how civilian action shapes order, forcing both rebel groups and governments to adapt; 3) Exploring the social mechanisms that reinforce order, thus moving the discussion beyond violence and political orders and towards a more holistic perspective; 4) Understanding that all orders are mutually constituted and thus understanding not only how order is expressed or acted upon but also how order is understood, how assumptions about order influence action, and crucially, how each group’s actions are shaped by the generation of knowledge about the order they inhabit. Using these we highlight both the promise of the concept of order for the study of civil wars and attempt to begin the development of a coherent research agenda to unify existing insights and lay the foundations for further advances.
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Program on Governance and Local Development (GLD), Working Paper No. 32, 2020
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“Without Glory but Without Disaster”: Learning the Lessons of British Withdrawal from South Arabia , 2020
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Small Wars & Insurgencies , 2017
The concept of order is often neglected in the study of conflict – seemingly such a ‘disordering’... more The concept of order is often neglected in the study of conflict – seemingly such a ‘disordering’ process. With the recent increase in the examination of rebel governance however, bringing order back into our understanding of rebel and insurgent groups has much to offer in exploring the everyday politics which connect authorities, rebel movements and the population itself, in a complex mass of intersubjective and power-based interactions and negotiations. Rebels both shape and are shaped by existing forms of order in complex and ongoing ways. This article explores how varying elements interact in the negotiation, framing and enforcement of order and develops an original analytical framework to examine the perpetual negotiations of rebel movements in their attempts to cement their control.
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Routledge, 2017
This volume is a key text for understanding the major regional international organizations of the... more This volume is a key text for understanding the major regional international organizations of the Middle East. Analysing the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the Arab-Maghreb Union in a concise and accessible format, it explores their successes and failures across their full range of activities (economic, social, and political), while contextualising the reasons why many consider that these organizations have stalled.
The book:
- assesses the reasons why IOs in the Middle East are under-developed relative to neighbouring regional organizations;
- explores their history, evolution, and structure, while considering the successes and failures of each IO;
- analyses the reasons for the specific difficulties faced by each organization through the context of intra-regional relations;
- develops a new framework for analysing the forces that have shaped these bodies and challenges the existing narrative that largely ignores the achievements and prospects of the organizations;
- considers the likely impact of the Arab Spring upon the future development of these frequently overlooked regional international organizations.
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This contribution reflects on the state of strategic studies today and the criticism it has recei... more This contribution reflects on the state of strategic studies today and the criticism it has received in recent years, as being outdated and irrelevant. The authors formulate some premises for reinvigorating this field of inquiry by widening its scope and research agenda to do more justice to the wide variety of actors, perspectives and practices observable in the enterprise of strategy in our contemporary globalised world.
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The failure of the state-building project, the insurgency and, to use the famous phrase, Britain'... more The failure of the state-building project, the insurgency and, to use the famous phrase, Britain's ‘scuttle’, or ignominious withdrawal, from South Arabia have long been the subject of study, receiving attention from many angles and new perspectives. One aspect which has received less attention is the role of policing in the state-building project of the Federation of South Arabia. This article sets out to explore this lacuna by contextualizing the role of policing in state-building and examining the impact of its absence in the case of South Arabia. It is clear that Britain left it very late to attempt the construction of a Federal State in the face of mounting pressures and challenges, and even later to establish a proper Federal Police Service. The article thus examines the argument that the lack of developed policing structures was the missing link in the state-building process before asking if Britain simply left the construction of effective and unified policing structures too late, or whether this was simply an impossible task.
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"In the depths of the Cold War and in the wake of Britain's announcement of its intention to with... more "In the depths of the Cold War and in the wake of Britain's announcement of its intention to withdraw 'East of Suez' by the end of 1971, Britain was faced with the stark reality of a Marxist rebellion in the Dhofar province of Oman. "State Building and Counter Insurgency in Oman" offers an exploration of the attempts by officials and politicians in Whitehall and the Gulf to reconcile attempts to protect national interests and create an effective, centralised Omani administration and security bodies, whilst maintaining the image of strategic withdrawal and the sovereign independence of Oman. This book thus provides vital information and analysis for students and researchers of Middle East History and Politics, the decline and end of empire and the policymaking processes at the heart of an imperial and military withdrawal."
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Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Feb 14, 2013
The concept of Emancipation has become increasingly important in security studies in recent years... more The concept of Emancipation has become increasingly important in security studies in recent years but how well does the idea travel outside of the Western context in which it was conceived and into the Middle East? This article examines Hizbollah's four main identities: religious, resistance, socioeconomic, and as allies/proxies of Iran and asks to what extent this key regional non-state actor sees itself as an emancipatory agent in its own terms and how this differs from the Emancipatory ideal of Critical Security Studies (CSS). Does Hizbollah's current makeup offer enough scope to pursue Emancipation in line with the CSS project? Since the precept of Jihad offers Muslims a theological justification to engage in a holy struggle for a moral, spiritual, or political goal, seemingly Hizbollah is uniquely positioned to offer the prospect of Emancipation for the traditionally downtrodden Shi’a citizens of Lebanon, but does their Islamic faith and their aim of adherence to the Islamic way of life which they interpret from the Qur’an and Sunnah proscribe their credentials as truly Emancipatory actors? The article uses this analysis to examine the extent to which the commitment to universal Emancipation, found in CSS, is reconcilable with its Western-orientated foundation when applied in a Middle Eastern context.
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Middle East Policy, Sep 12, 2012
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Iran, since the advent of its nation-state building process, has struggled to define its national... more Iran, since the advent of its nation-state building process, has struggled to define its national identity in a relevant and resonant way. This article, while acknowledging the multi-dimensional nature of Iran's national identity, focuses on its two most profound components: Nationalism and Islamism. It explores how the tensions between these two are at the heart of not only the problem of Iranian identity but also of Persian identity. Examining how these two bases of identity also rely on similarity as well as difference the article argues, through the use of the tool of a problematique, that a coherent Iranian national identity, inclusive of all, including ethnic minorities, is not possible until the tensions between Nationalism and Islamism at the heart of Persian identity are resolved.
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in Celeste Ward Gventer, David Martin Jones and M.L.R Smith (Eds.) The New Counter-insurgency Era in Critical Perspective (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) , Jan 24, 2014
Chapter Abstract:
"This chapter begins to explore two concepts which form the increasingly uns... more Chapter Abstract:
"This chapter begins to explore two concepts which form the increasingly unspoken core of counter-insurgency (COIN): the control of the population and its link with the control of territory. Both of these key functions of counter-insurgency present fundamental problems for liberal democratic states engaging in the kind of expeditionary counter-insurgency campaigns which have occupied the previous decade. By comparing non-Western approaches to counter-insurgency with the Western ‘liberal’ approach to COIN, and its failure to properly engage with these concepts, the chapter argues that bringing the soil back in by utilising the concept of territoriality has a great deal to offer in making Western COIN more responsive to this fundamental idea, since territory is an issue which is important both for the population and for many insurgents."
Volume Abstract:
"Over the last decade, the notion of counter-insurgency (COIN) has risen to prominence as the dominant paradigm in American and British thinking about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite the high level of attention paid to the subject by military analysts, the broader theoretical and historical factors which underpin counter-insurgency have received comparatively little critical scrutiny. This volume addresses the gap in existing scholarship by exploring and challenging several critical aspects of the prevailing orthodoxy on COIN.
This critical reappraisal of counter-insurgency thinking and practice brings together a number of international academics and practitioners, providing a pluralistic insight on the effectiveness of counter-insurgency operations from military, academic, media and civilian administrative perspectives. It also combines US and British insights into the theory and practise of twenty-first century COIN. With the continuing relevance of 'big third party' COIN to Western engagement in future wars of choice, this book provides an important and timely analysis of an issue which will continue to impact American and British security policy and future interventions."
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At the End of Military Intervention: Historical, Theoretical and Applied Approaches to Transition, Handover and Withdrawal, Dec 11, 2014
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in Tore T. Petersen (Ed.) Challenging Retrenchment In The Middle East (Rostra Series, Trondheim: Tapir Academic Press, 2010).
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in Michaela Hoffman-ruf and Abdulrahman Al Salimi (Eds.) Oman and Overseas (New York/Zurich: Olms, 2013).
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A History of Counterinsurgency, Vol. 2, May 2015
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Routledge Handbook of the Arab Spring: Rethinking Democratisation, Jan 3, 2015
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International Relations, Oct 20, 2013
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Publications by James Worrall
The book:
- assesses the reasons why IOs in the Middle East are under-developed relative to neighbouring regional organizations;
- explores their history, evolution, and structure, while considering the successes and failures of each IO;
- analyses the reasons for the specific difficulties faced by each organization through the context of intra-regional relations;
- develops a new framework for analysing the forces that have shaped these bodies and challenges the existing narrative that largely ignores the achievements and prospects of the organizations;
- considers the likely impact of the Arab Spring upon the future development of these frequently overlooked regional international organizations.
"This chapter begins to explore two concepts which form the increasingly unspoken core of counter-insurgency (COIN): the control of the population and its link with the control of territory. Both of these key functions of counter-insurgency present fundamental problems for liberal democratic states engaging in the kind of expeditionary counter-insurgency campaigns which have occupied the previous decade. By comparing non-Western approaches to counter-insurgency with the Western ‘liberal’ approach to COIN, and its failure to properly engage with these concepts, the chapter argues that bringing the soil back in by utilising the concept of territoriality has a great deal to offer in making Western COIN more responsive to this fundamental idea, since territory is an issue which is important both for the population and for many insurgents."
Volume Abstract:
"Over the last decade, the notion of counter-insurgency (COIN) has risen to prominence as the dominant paradigm in American and British thinking about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite the high level of attention paid to the subject by military analysts, the broader theoretical and historical factors which underpin counter-insurgency have received comparatively little critical scrutiny. This volume addresses the gap in existing scholarship by exploring and challenging several critical aspects of the prevailing orthodoxy on COIN.
This critical reappraisal of counter-insurgency thinking and practice brings together a number of international academics and practitioners, providing a pluralistic insight on the effectiveness of counter-insurgency operations from military, academic, media and civilian administrative perspectives. It also combines US and British insights into the theory and practise of twenty-first century COIN. With the continuing relevance of 'big third party' COIN to Western engagement in future wars of choice, this book provides an important and timely analysis of an issue which will continue to impact American and British security policy and future interventions."
The book:
- assesses the reasons why IOs in the Middle East are under-developed relative to neighbouring regional organizations;
- explores their history, evolution, and structure, while considering the successes and failures of each IO;
- analyses the reasons for the specific difficulties faced by each organization through the context of intra-regional relations;
- develops a new framework for analysing the forces that have shaped these bodies and challenges the existing narrative that largely ignores the achievements and prospects of the organizations;
- considers the likely impact of the Arab Spring upon the future development of these frequently overlooked regional international organizations.
"This chapter begins to explore two concepts which form the increasingly unspoken core of counter-insurgency (COIN): the control of the population and its link with the control of territory. Both of these key functions of counter-insurgency present fundamental problems for liberal democratic states engaging in the kind of expeditionary counter-insurgency campaigns which have occupied the previous decade. By comparing non-Western approaches to counter-insurgency with the Western ‘liberal’ approach to COIN, and its failure to properly engage with these concepts, the chapter argues that bringing the soil back in by utilising the concept of territoriality has a great deal to offer in making Western COIN more responsive to this fundamental idea, since territory is an issue which is important both for the population and for many insurgents."
Volume Abstract:
"Over the last decade, the notion of counter-insurgency (COIN) has risen to prominence as the dominant paradigm in American and British thinking about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite the high level of attention paid to the subject by military analysts, the broader theoretical and historical factors which underpin counter-insurgency have received comparatively little critical scrutiny. This volume addresses the gap in existing scholarship by exploring and challenging several critical aspects of the prevailing orthodoxy on COIN.
This critical reappraisal of counter-insurgency thinking and practice brings together a number of international academics and practitioners, providing a pluralistic insight on the effectiveness of counter-insurgency operations from military, academic, media and civilian administrative perspectives. It also combines US and British insights into the theory and practise of twenty-first century COIN. With the continuing relevance of 'big third party' COIN to Western engagement in future wars of choice, this book provides an important and timely analysis of an issue which will continue to impact American and British security policy and future interventions."