Abstract
Since its inception as a nation-state in the wake of World War I, Iraq has been burdened with a number of acute problems, the most important of which, though interrelated, may be divided into two main categories: issues concerning Iraq’s borders, and those associated with its political community.
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Notes
Unless otherwise stated, the discussion of Iraq under the monarchy is based mainly on the following sources: Hanna Batatu, The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq (Princeton, 1978), pp. 13–106;
Phebe Marr, The Modern History of Iraq (Boulder, Colorado, and London, 1985), pp. 29–151;
Peter Sluglett, Britain in Iraq, 1914–1932 (London, 1976), passim;
Marion Farouk-Sluglett and Peter Sluglett, Iraq Since 1958, From Revolution to Dictatorship (London and New York, 1987), pp. 1–45.
Ernest Main, Iraq From Mandate To Independence (London, 1935), p. 165.
Elie Kedourie, ‘The Iraqi Shi‘is and their Fate’, in Martin Kramer, Shi‘ism, Resistance, and Revolution (Boulder, Colorado, and London, 1987), pp. 152.
See, for example, the speeches made by Faysal after his arrival in Iraq in 1921, Philip Willard Ireland, Iraq, A Study in Political Development (London, 1937), pp. 465–9.
See, for example Yehoshua Porath, ‘Nuri al-Said’s Arab unity programme’, Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 20, no. 4, October 1984, pp. 76–98;
Reeva Simon, ‘The Hashemite “Conspiracy”: Hashemite Unity Attempts 1921–1958’, IJMES, vol. 5, 1974, pp. 314–27;
Khaldun, Sati al-Husri, ‘King Faysal I and Arab Unity 1930–1933’, Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 10 no. 2, April 1975, pp. 331ff
Reeva Simon, Iraq Between the Two World Wars: The Creation and Implementation of a National Ideology (New York, Columbia Univ. Press, 1986), pp. 75–126.
Kedourie, ‘The Iraqi Shi‘is and their Fate’, pp. 153–4; Kedourie, ‘The Break Between Muslims and Jews’, in Mark R. Cohen and Abraham L. Udovitch, Jews Among Arabs: Contacts and Boundaries (Princeton, 1989), p. 26. And see Kedourie, ‘The Iraqi Shi‘is and their Fate’, pp. 145–7, for the mixed position of the mujtahids immediately following World War One. In 1941 a few mujtahids supported the anti-British pan-Arab revolt of Rashid ‘Ali al-Kaylani but their support could stem from their anti-British sentiment and not necessarily from whole-hearted support for pan-Arabism, and, anyway, it came only after the revolt won the day (eventually to be crushed by the British). Also, the revolt’s leadership was entirely Sunni-Arab.
See Hasan al-‘Alawi, Al-Shi‘a wal dawla al-qawmiyya fi al-‘iraq (Paris, 1989), pp. 181–6.
Samir al-Khalil, Republic of Fear, The Politics of Modern Iraq (London, 1989), pp. 214–15.
See also Ernest Main, ‘Iraq: a Note’, Journal of the Royal Central Asiatic Society, vol. 20, July 1933, p. 434.
King Faysal I also based some of his legitimacy on his sharifi descent. This seems to have been a political asset before he became King. See for example, the letters from the would-be Chief Mujtahid, Muhammad Taqi al-Shirazi, and from other Shi‘i leaders, to the Sharif of Mecca and his son Faysal in 1919–20, Muhammad ‘Ali Kamal al-Din, Thawrat al-‘ishrin fi dhikriha al-Khamsin (Baghdad, 1971), pp. 78–9, 81, 135, 181–3, 211–12, 328, 333–4, 338. Elie Kedourie on a similar approach by groups of activist Shi‘i notables in Baghdad, Kazimiyya and Karbala, ‘The Iraqi Shi‘is’, ibid., p. 146;
Amal Vinogradov, ‘The 1920 Revolt in Iraq Reconsidered: The Role of Tribes in National Polities’, IJMES, vol. 2, April 1972, p. 135. When he became King, however, his pedigree notwithstanding, his support for the British and for Sunni-Arab rule turned the mujtahid against him. Kedourie, pp. 149–51.
See, for example, their demands of Faysal I to reserve half of the places in his cabinet and in the government administration to Shi‘is, Peter Sluglett, Britain in Iraq, 1914–1932 (London, 1976), p. 306; and in the mid-1930s, Hasan al-‘Alawi, p. 183. And some Shi‘i support for the Rashid ‘Ali revolt see ibid., pp. 181–6.
See Hanna Batatu, ‘Iraq’s Underground Shi‘a Movements …’, Middle East Journal, no. 4, vol. 35, Autumn 1981, pp. 578–94.
For additional details on the genesis of the Ba‘th party in Syria, see: Kamel S. Abu Jaber, The Arab Ba‘th Socialist Party: History, Ideology and Organization (New York, 1966);
John F. Devlin, The Ba‘th Party, A History from it Origins to 1966 (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Univ., 1979);
Patrick Seale, The Struggle for Syria: A Study of Post-War Arab Politics 1945–58 (London, 1965) (henceforth: Seale, The Struggle for Syria).
As for Iraq, unless otherwise stated, the following summary is based on Majid Khadduri, Republican Iraq (London, 1969), (henceforth: Khadduri, 1969) pp. 10, 189ff.; Devlin, pp. 106–12, 231ff.;
Hanna Batatu, The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq, (henceforth: Batatu, 1978); pp. 722ff.; The Arab Ba‘th Socialist Party, the Pan-Arab Leadership, The Reasons for the Disintegration of Party Rule in Iraq [in 1963] (submitted to the Eighth Pan-Arab Congress in Damascus, April 1965; translated into Hebrew and annotated by Ofra Bengio, Tel-Aviv Univ., 1981) (henceforth: ABSP, Reasons).
There are minor differences between the various sources. For the party line on religion, see, for example, Michel ‘Aflaq, Fi sabil al-ba‘th (For the Sake, or On The Road of Resurrection) (Beirut, 1974) (henceforth: ‘Aflaq, Fi sabil), pp. 122–34, 168–78, 201–17;
Saddam Husayn, Fi al-din wal-turath (On Religion and Heritage), (Baghdad, 1977) (Henceforth: Husayn, Fi al-din).
Uriel Dann, Iraq Under Qassem (Jerusalem, 1969) (henceforth: Dann, 1969) pp. 40, 42, 71.
See ‘Aflaq’s hind-sight severe denouncement of this anti-Communist campaign, blaming it conveniently on Sa‘di’s faction, Jubran Shamiyya (ed.), Silsilat Sijill al-Ara (Beirut), January–February 1966, pp. 90–1.
For his version of these years, that is fairly accurate in many details, despite its attempt to glorify Husayn, see his semi-official biography, Amir Iskandar, Saddam Husayn, the Fighter, the Thinker, the Man (Paris, 1980), pp. 94ff.
Majid Khadduri, Socialist Iraq (Washington, D.C., 1978), pp. 18–19.
Amazia Baram, ‘The Ruling Political Elite in Ba‘thi Iraq 1968–1986, the Changing Features of a Collective Profile’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, vol. 21, no. 4, November 1989, pp. 447–93.
See Amazia Baram, ‘Ideology and Power Politics in Syrian-Iraqi Relations 1968–1984’ in Moshe Ma‘oz and Avner Yaniv (eds), Syria Under Assad: Domestic Constraints and Regional Risks (London, 1986), pp. 125–39.
Ofra Bengio, The Kurdish Revolution in Iraq (Tel-Aviv, 1989), p. 27; and interviews.
See Fouad Ajami’s analysis, ‘The End of Pan-Arabism’, Tawfic E. Farah (ed.) Pan-Arabism and Nationalism (Boulder, Colorado and London, 1987), pp. 96–114.
Compare, for example, The National Bureau of Culture, Political Report The Tenth National Congress (Baghdad, March 1970), pp. 18–38, 74–8, 80–1, 85–7;
Ahmad Hasan al-Bakr, Masirat al-thawra fi khutab wa tasrihat al-ra‘is (Baghdad, 1971), pp. 231–2;
Saddam Husayn, al-Jumhuriyya, 13 May 1969; with Thawrat 17 tammuz al-tajriba wal afaq (The Resolutions of the Eighth Regional Congress, Baghdad, January 1974), pp. 124–31, 167–70; also 121, 222, 224, 162–6; Michel ‘Aflaq, Baghdad Observer, 10 October 1977; Typically the most central reason given to the Iraqi public by the Ba‘th party for the failure of unity talks with Ba‘thi Syria in 1978–79 was that the Syrian regime in fact coveted Iraq’s oil riches but was not willing to pay for it the political price that Iraq demanded, namely, Iraqi hegemony within the future union (Al-Taqrir al-markazi lil-mu‘tamar al-Qutri al-tasi‘, haziran 1982, The Central Report of the Ninth Regional Congress of June 1982 [Baghdad, January 1983], pp. 323–5.
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© 1991 Amatzia Baram
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Baram, A. (1991). The Historical Setting. In: Culture, History and Ideology in the Formation of Ba‘thist Iraq, 1968–89. St Antony’s/Macmillan Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21243-9_1
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