The Arab Gulf

This research aims to study the Iraqi archives held in American institutions from multiple perspectives, including the processes of their transfer, documentation, repatriation, access, and the epistemic issues surrounding them. From the Iraqi people’s uprising against the Baath regime in 1991 until the U.S. invasion in 2003 and thereafter, enormous numbers of Iraqi state documents were transferred to American academic and security institutions, foremost among them the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, the Conflict Records Research Center (CRRC) at the National Defense University of the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), in addition to the University of Colorado.
The research seeks to examine three main axes: first, the routes through which Iraqi documents were transferred and the nature of the institutions that housed them; second, the use of these documents and the methodologies employed in documenting them; and third, the issues surrounding the archives. The research concludes that the Iraqi archives in American institutions constitute an epistemic, ethical, and political problem, and that addressing the difficulties of actual access for Iraqi researchers remains an urgent issue that has not yet been resolved.

This research examines the Saudi position following Mohammad Khatami’s accession to the presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1997, within a regional context marked by tension in Saudi–Iranian relations during the 1980s and the early 1990s, as a result of ideological, political, and security disagreements between the two countries. Khatami’s election, given his reformist discourse and his call for a “Dialogue of Civilizations,” represented a relative turning point in Iranian foreign policy, which was reflected in the nature of Saudi interaction with Tehran.
The research concludes that the Saudi position on Mohammad Khatami’s assumption of power was characterized by positive caution and political pragmatism. Riyadh indirectly welcomed the shift in Iranian discourse, particularly with regard to calls for improving relations with neighboring states and respecting the principle of non-interference in internal affairs. At the same time, it sought to invest in this shift in order to achieve a degree of regional stability, while maintaining strategic caution toward the structure of the Iranian regime and its long-term policies.