Investigations on the stabilization of them=2 rotational instability in a high‐field theta pinch with a normalized separatrix radius of &khgr;s=0.14 are reported. With multipole fields lower than a theoretical threshold by factors of 2.5 and 2.1 no stabilization was observed in contrast to successful stabilization of low‐field configurations with &khgr;s=0.4–0.6 reported in the literature.