National Service and the “Entitled Patriot”

04/03/18 • 14 min

In this episode, Jon Alterman speaks to Dr. Calvert Jones, assistant professor at the University of Maryland, College Park in the department of government and politics and the author of Bedouins Into Bourgeois: Remaking Citizens for Globalization. Calvert reflects on the UAE’s military conscription program through the prism of wider efforts to cultivate a new type of UAE citizen for a future that is less dependent on oil. She highlights how social engineering efforts can sometimes produce unexpected—or unintended—consequences. In particular, she discusses a paradox she dubbed the “entitled patriot” that she observed when studying the effects of nationalism education in the UAE.

Previous Episode

"Little Sparta" and the Gulf’s New Nationalism

In this episode, Jon Alterman speaks to Dr. Kristin Smith Diwan, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. Kristin situates the UAE’s conscription program in the context of a “new nationalism” in Gulf Arab countries that seeks in part to galvanize citizens to contribute more actively to the state. Kristin also discusses how more specific identities—gender, socioeconomic class, and local affiliations—may shape how Emiratis and other Gulf citizens experience these efforts to foster nationalism.

Next Episode

Building a Conscription Society

In this episode, Jon Alterman talks to Dave DesRoches, associate professor and senior military fellow with the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University. Dave, a former Defense Department official responsible for U.S. defense policy in the Gulf and a retired U.S. Army Ranger, lays out the military case for—and against—conscription. Dave also talks about the social and economic implications of building a conscription society. He argues that history shows conscription can either be a force that drives forward national integration or one that sets it back—with much hinging on implementation.