Politics in Iraq

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Background Middle East

• Geographic position at the junction
• Africa, Asia, and Europe

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Background Middle East

• Origin of the 3 monotheistic religions
• Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
• largest reserves of petroleum in the world
• Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
• non-Arab nations
• Turkey, Israel, and Iran

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Background Islam

• 2nd largest religion in the world
• some 1 billion adherents
• from West Africa to Indonesia
• most Muslims are outside of the Middle East
• most Muslims are not Arabs

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Islam and Muslim

• Islam literally means submission to God
• Muslim literally means one who submits
• recognize that there is only one God (Allah)
• reject other gods or associates of God
• His appointed messengers
• Jesus and the Old Testament prophet
• 7th century Arab prophet Muhammad

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Central tenet of Islam

• Muslim declaration of faith
• There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His
  prophet
• e.g. Saudi flag

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Muslim Declaration of Faith

• Flag of Iran
• Flag of Iraq
• God is great

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The 5 pillars of Islam

• The Muslim declaration of faith
• plus 4 ritual obligations that faithful Muslims
  perform to the best of their ability

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The 5 pillars of Islam

• plus 4 ritual obligations that faithful Muslims
  perform to the best of their ability
• prayer 5 times a day, facing the holy shrine of
  Kaaba in Mecca
• give alms to charity
• fast in daylight hours in the month of Ramadan
• make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in life

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The Koran (Quran)

• written record of Muhammads revelations
• said to be the exact word of God
• a source of authority for religious truth
• provide detailed rules by which the righteous can
  guide their daily lives with little dependence on
  the old sources of authority such as tribe and
  lineage

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Sunnis and Shiis

• 2 major branches of Islam
• differ mostly over who should have succeeded the
  Prophet Muhammad in 632
• Sunnis
• literally mean followers of tradition
• Shiis
• literally mean partisans of Ali
• less than 10 of Muslims worldwide

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Sunnis and Shiis
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Spread of Islam 1500
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Ottoman Empire
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British French rule 1800s

• Geopolitical rivalries instead of economic prizes

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British French mandates
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Independence

• By 1950 most countries in Middle East had
  achieved independence
• Syria and Lebanon gained independence from French
  rule during World War II
• Iraq and Transjordan gained nominal independence
  from Britains indirect rule
• British protectorate in Egypt ended
• continued Western economic and strategic
  interests in the region

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Drive for self-determination

• Direct European political control declined
• Britain installed kings in Jordan and Iraq
• economic dependence independence
• e.g. Irans attempt to nationalize British-owned
  petroleum company failed in 1951
• e.g. O.P.E.C. quadrupled oil prices in 1973

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Cold War

• Superpower, regional, and internal struggles
• influence of U.S. and Soviet Union

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Overthrow the monarchy

• Kings perceived to be pro-Western, corrupt, and
  ineffective were overthrown by nationalist
  revolutions
• 1952 revolt of the Free Officers in Egypt
• 1958 revolution in Iraq killed King P.M.
• 1979 revolution in Iran led by Khomeini
• exceptions Jordan and Saudi Arabia

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Arab nationalism

• Physical, ethnic, religious, and cultural bridges
  across the national boundaries that were
  arbitrarily drawn by Europeans
• pan-Arab movement
• launched by Nasser of Egypt in 1958
• proposed unification with Syria, Iraq, Yemen,
  Libya, and the Sudan at one time or another
• governments suspected Nassers motives

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Egypt under Nasser (1954-1970)

• Arab nationalism Arab socialism
• Nassers particular vision of Arab socialism
• socialism of secular Islam, not Marxist
• nationalization of basic industries
• elimination of foreign ownership
• hospitals, mosques, and schools in villages
• mass public participation in politics

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Egypt after Nasser (1970-)

• Nassers successors
• Sadat (-1981)
• Mubarak

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3 leadership styles

• traditional leadership
• legitimacy from historical forces and traditional
  practices
• no substitute for effective policy
• can not protect ineffective ruler forever
• charismatic leadership
• unique personal characters in a crisis
• bureaucratic leadership

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Baath Party

• Arab Socialist Resurrection Party
• Baath to recover past Arab greatness
• at once a political party, political philosophy,
  and political movement
• ultimate goal of Arab unity through nationalism,
  socialism, and pan-Arabism
• supporters among intellectuals and military of
  Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq

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Baathism in Syria and Iraq

• Since 1963 Baath Party has successfully
  maintained itself in power in Syria
• and until recently in Iraq
• in Syria Baathist support came largely from the
  civilian sector
• in Iraq Baathist power mainly in the military

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Baathism in Syria and Iraq

• both Syria and Iraq were in the forefront of
  supporting Palestinian organizations
• In the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Syria lost the
  Golan Heights to Israel

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Baathism in Syria and Iraq

• Baathist regimes in Syria and Iraq
• were often at head-on disputes
• despite ostensible commitment to Arab unity
• relatively long and potent nationalist feeling
• Iraq and Syria split forcefully
• during the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988
• during the Gulf War of 1991

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Islam and politics

• Pan-Arabism, Baathism, and traditional systems
  all stressed the importance of Islam
• common source of tradition and identity
• Islam conceived of in politically secular terms

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Islam and politics

• existence of Muslim society as desirable reality
• reject the idea of an Islamic state based on the
  Koran and Islamic tradition
• there are exceptions to the professed secularism