Examining the Cases of Baathist Iraq, Syria, and Iran
Howard, Tiffiany
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
2019
329
Ph.D.
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
2019
This dissertation examines the phenomena of the parallel security apparatus in the cases of Baathist Iraq, Syria, and Iran. Parallel security structures are often limited to books and articles published on secret police organizations in the broader security literature. Their research often focuses on one branch of the parallel security apparatus rather than examining all the parallel security institutions of that particular regime. This body of research attempts to bring further light to this particular phenomenon by examining all the parallel security institutions in a particular case and to connect and trace the various parallel security institutions to see if there is a connection between regime durability and the existence of a parallel security apparatus. This dissertation infers that institutional continuity of parallel security structures provide organizational incentives to sustain authoritarian regimes in the Middle East and possibly other regions of the world. By examining the cases of Baathist Iraq, Syria, and Iran with their well entrenched and extensive parallel security structures, the gap between regime survival and parallel security institutions is brought closer together.