NEIL PARTRICK
CURRENT PROJECTS
State Failure in the Middle East
Routledge (Europa Country Perspectives) will publish my book State Failure in the Middle East in August or September 2025. It examines how power and sovereignty is exercised in four Arab majority states - Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen - and how each of these states function in the context of complex and unstable political dynamics. For Routledge's advance publicity for the book please click here.
All four countries struggle to function according to the conventional norms of sovereign statehood. Armed force is often diffuse and not accountable to, let alone controlled by the designated state leader. National allegiance is compromised by sub-state and para-state identities and fealties, state resources are appropriated by sub or para-state interests, and external actors (foreign state and often related militia) impose their interests on the ‘host’ state.
The book is based on first-hand interviews with local political, governmental, military and business actors at both senior and mid-level. It was conceived following a trip to Iraq in October 2021 where I was struck by the disconnect between the surface expression of sovereignty in the form of a fiercely-contested election campaign, and how the state functions outside of any supposed sovereign oversight by parliament.
The last phase of field research for the book was conducted during a four week trip to Lebanon, and a week in Saudi Arabia interviewing northern Yemenis, over May to June 2024, following a three week trip to southern Yemen in November-December 2023. A brief article related to recent Houthi activity in the Red Sea and related to some of my observations on the trip can be seen here: Houthi rivals in Yemen want to exploit Red Sea rift.
In November 2023 I gave a paper on Syria: Failed State or Reborn Regional Player? to an online meeting of the Middle East Studies Centre (MESC) at the University of Hull. The paper reflected my initial research for the Syria chapter.
In March 18 2022 I spoke on The Future of State Functionality in the Middle East in a panel of the same name, which formed part of the Policy Studies Organization's 'Middle East Dialogue 2022' conference. The PSO organised the four day conference in partnership with the American Public University (APU) and the American Military University (AMU).