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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">The <u class="">Emile Bustani Middle East Seminar</u> invites you to a lecture on the topic of:<br class=""><br class=""><b class="">Saudi Arabia’s Sectarian Strategy at Home and Abroad: Rallying the Base</b><br class=""><br class="">Sectarian enmity toward Shiism is a constant in Saudi history. It goes back to Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s attack on all forms of idolatry. Today’s anti-Shiite discourse blends classic Wahhabi doctrine with contemporary political concepts in ways that cast Shiism as a threat to national unity. The new discourse developed in the 1980s in response to the Iranian revolution and Shiite activism at home. Since then, Al Saud have alternately mobilized and curtailed anti-Shiite narratives according to political calculations. Presently, Saudi Arabia’s sectarian strategy draws on latent Sunni prejudice against Shiism to achieve two goals: To defeat Iran’s ambitions in the Gulf and the Levant, and to suppress internal dissent. There is nothing remarkable about a state seeking to maximize its international security and domestic stability. Riyadh’s mobilization of xenophobic theology, however, creates strains with the United States, carries the risk of blowback from wars in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria that is reminiscent of the 1980s Afghan jihad, and may jeopardize plans for internal structural reform.<br class=""><br class="">Prof. David Commins<br class=""><div class="">Professor of History</div><div class="">Dickinson College</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class=""><b class="">Tuesday, September 13th, 2016</b></div><div class="">4:30pm - 6:00pm</div><div class="">E51-315</div><div class="">(<a href="http://events.mit.edu/event.html?id=16490226&date=2016/9/13" class="">event listing</a>)</div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The Bustani Seminar series celebrates its <b class="">31st anniversary</b> this year!</div>Information on the <a href="http://web.mit.edu/cis/bustani/index.htm" class="">Emile Bustani Middle East Seminar<br class=""></a><div class="">Information on the <a href="http://web.mit.edu/cis/bustani/bustani2016fall.htm" class="">Fall 2016</a> Bustani Seminar lectures </div><div class=""><div apple-content-edited="true" class=""><span class="" style="line-height: normal;"></span></div></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">next lecture: Tuesday, September 27th, 4:30pm - 6:00pm:</div><div class="">Prof. Marc Lynch: “<a href="http://events.mit.edu/event.html?id=16490227&date=2016/9/27" class="">The New Arab Wars: Anarchy and Uprising in the Middle East</a>"<br class=""><div apple-content-edited="true" class=""><br class=""></div><div apple-content-edited="true" class="">For more information or any questions, contact<br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><span class="" style="line-height: normal; float: none; display: inline !important;">Dain Goding: </span><span class="" style="line-height: normal; float: none; display: inline !important;">617-252-1888 | </span><span style="line-height: normal;" class=""><a href="mailto:dain@mit.edu" class="">dain@mit.edu</a></span></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></body></html>