NEWS
2022.05.31
【Report】The third AJI Book Launch was held! Dr. Shun Watanabe talked about his new book.
On May 25, 2022, a Book Launch was held online by the Asian-Japan Research Institute of Ritsumeikan University and the Center for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, also of Ritsumeikan University, featuring a new Japanese book written by Dr. Shun Watanabe (Senior Researcher of the Institute of Energy Economics in Japan, and Research Fellow of Kyoto University) entitled『現代アラブ君主制の支配ネットワークと資源分配――非産油国ヨルダンの模索』（Ruling Networks and Resource Distributions in Modern Arab Monarchies: The Challenges of Non-oil-producing Jordan）.
The author, Dr. Watanabe, specializes in the study of Jordanian politics and modern Arab monarchies. In his current position, he is engaged in research on current affairs and security in the Mashriq region and the Gulf states, as well as doing trend analysis of jihadist organizations. This extremely informative book examines why monarchies continue to exist in the Arab world from the approach of qualitative case studies based on field researches and data analysis in Arab monarchical countries, and develops a multifaceted argument through applying each theory of monarchical studies, authoritarian regimes, and contemporary Jordanian political studies. During the launch event, Dr. Watanabe gave a presentation explaining the uniqueness of this book that rethinks the dichotomy of constitutional monarchy and absolute monarchy by demonstrating that modern Arab monarchical states should be categorized differently from the present system of categorization, and based on this hypothesis, he gave new propositions for the study on modern monarchies.
In the Q&A session, attendees posed enthusiastic questions about the advantages of area studies in conducting research in general and how to balance area studies with other disciplines. In addition, Dr. Watanabe gave meaningful advice about field research for younger researchers, which made this Book Launch very instructive for many of the participants.
Dr. Watanabe Shun talking about his book
Attendees for this Book Launch