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Unlike many other Shiite political factions in Iraq, the Sadrist movement has become increasingly vocal in its criticism of Iranian influence in Iraq. Anti‐Iran chants have become almost ubiquitous in Sadrist demonstrations over the past few years, and prominent Sadrist politicians have unabashedly pointed the finger of blame for Iraq's crises at Iran. The growing Sadrist criticism of Iran has simultaneously come with the gradual ascendance of nationalist narratives in the religious movement. This article aims to study these narratives and their correlation with Iran. It argues that the Sadrist version of Iraqi nationalism encompasses three components that aim to differentiate Iraqi Arab Shiite identity from Iran. It also studies how Sadrist nationalism contributed to the rise of the Iran‐bashing trend among Iraqi Shiites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its establishment in 1921, Iraq’s borders were incorporated by a diverse medley of people who had not been joined into a single political community with a common sense of identity. For the Iraqi rulers, the education system was the most important and the best tool for expanding a common national identity. As a result, a centralized education system was created, new schools were developed, and new education with nationalist content was spread from Baghdad to other parts of the country. In the present study, the descriptive-analytical method was used and the data were collected through library sources to answer two research questions: how nationalism and the infusion of national identity were started and expanded in the Iraqi society? And what goals and motives did the nationalists have to promote nationalism in Iraq? The results showed that Arab nationalists, such as Sati' al-Husri, Fazel Jamali and Sami Shawkat, along with Syrian and Palestinian nationalists, who taught in Iraq, played an important role in the development of national identity. They expanded a common national identity with the foundation of Arabism by teaching the common Arabic history and the language developed for the curriculum. Ultimately, the spread of nationalism pursued two important goals: to create a shared identity in Iraq's multi-ethnic society and to emphasize its role in Arab unity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What drives citizens' attitudes toward external military intervention in a society experiencing armed conflict? From colonial Algeria to contemporary Afghanistan, conventional wisdom holds that nationalism is a critical source of opposition and resistance to such intervention. In contrast, we argue that the impact of nationalism on views of external intervention hinges on the strategic context facing the target nation. When the country's principal threat is from the intervener itself, nationalism will indeed reduce support for outside intervention. But when the threat comes from elsewhere, nationalism will actually boost support for external intervention to defeat it. To investigate these dynamics, we use public opinion data from a unique survey fielded across Iraq in 2016 that includes questions about the military interventions against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant by both the US-led coalition and Iran, as well as a potential military intervention by Russia. The results are broadly consistent with our argument, showing that, unlike other factors such as sectarianism, nationalism pushes Iraqis to seek foreign military help from any quarter when deemed necessary for national survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In September 2017, the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq held a referendum for independence despite the high likelihood of heavy retaliation. In contrast to the narrative that presents that decision as the result of gross miscalculation, this article offers an alternative explanation highlighting the role played by Kurdish nationalism in upholding the structures of power of the region. The current class structure, institutional framework and rentier economy of Iraqi Kurdistan had their origins in the 1990s when Kurdish forces gained permanent control of the region. The new ruling class that developed in that decade had a profoundly extractive character and based its power on a strategy of appropriation of the public resources pursued through the control of the political institutions and security forces. The 2017 independence referendum must be understood as an attempt to thwart the threat to this social arrangement represented by a wave of popular protests. These events reveal the profound connection between Kurdish nationalism and the region's class structure. They also allow us to appreciate the – often neglected – political agency of the subaltern classes in a rentier society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the current situation of the political turmoil in Northern Iraq, Turkey has been a natural destination country for thousands of refugees escaping the war, including the Iraqi Turkmens. Being native speakers of Turkmen-Turkish and Arabic, Iraqi Turkmen refugees go through confrontations about linguistic ideologies with the local Turkish community on a daily basis. Drawing on linguistic ethnographic data of naturally occurring interactions from social gatherings of local Turkish women with their Iraqi Turkmen neighbors, the present paper analyzes the dialogical processes through which these women construct and negotiate their identities and social relations from the lens of a range of linguistic ideologies. The findings suggest that while the Iraqi Turkmen participants' skillful interactional moves allow them to reframe their relationship with the local women, Turkish nationalism blended with Ottoman patriotism and Sunni-Islamic conservativism, which lay the foundation of the women's linguistic beliefs and judgments, complicates the process of their attempt for recognition.

The purpose of this study is to determine Turkish and refugee middle school students' views on their national belonging. The study employed the qualitative research approach aligned with the purpose; semi-structured interviews were conducted with Turkish and refugee students. Data were analyzed using the content analysis method. Results showed that the most important common features for national belonging of both Turkish and refugee students were the common language they spoke and the place they lived in and the difference of views regarding national belonging were in terms of discrimination. Regarding Turkish society's expectations of them, both groups emphasized universal values such as being hardworking and being a good person, but their perceptions of serving the state differed. As for what Turkish and refugee students should do for this society, Turkish students believed that they should be hardworking and refugee students thought that they should be good people. It can be said that the differences of opinion between Turkish students and refugee students who migrated to Turkey would decrease if both groups came together on the subject of universal values.

This study aims to explicate the socio-cultural dynamics that were not only effective on the historical development of Arab nationalism, but also did add differing aspects to it within time. Furthermore, this study aims to understand the transformations of Arab nationalism from early 19th century to the Golf Crisis in 1991. As it is attempted to illustrate in this study, contrary to other nationalist movements in the Third World, either anti-colonial or anti-Western, Arab nationalism has grounded on both its own identity and discourse of an opposition to Ottoman powers. During the first period, Arab nationalism had been trying to differentiate itself from the Ottomans by underlining cultural and linguistic factors believed to be the advantages of the Arabs in terms of understanding the true meanings of religion. After the 1920s, the rising Arab nationalism was indeed a territorial and secular nationalism, trying to ground itself by referring either to pre-Islamic or pre-Arabic past and culture. Between 1950s and 1970s, the developing Arab nationalism, represented by Ba'th Party and Nasserism, had been a socialist and anti-imperialist movement, defending the unification of the all Arabs under the same banner. After the 1980s, the rise of Islamic movements in the Middle East brought forth negative effects on Arab nationalism; yet, during the Golf Crisis in 1991, both religious and nationalistic ideologies and sentiments came together against American forces. Generally speaking, this study tries to elucidate all aspects as well as the development dynamics of Arab nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that a strong form of developmental nationalism lay at the root of the consolidation of the nation-state in Iraq. The Islamic communal and cultural nationalisms which came with the failures of developmentalism and the slide towards progressively liberal economic policy were exacerbated successively by the privations of war with Iran, the sanctions regime and the ongoing civil war. The last, in particular, casts doubt on the continuation of the Iraqi nation-state. Iraq may thus represent the direst unfolding of the transition from developmental to cultural nationalisms threatening the end of the nation-state itself. Drawing on comparisons with the economic strategies of other Middle Eastern states - where the politics of nationalism were highly implicated in the development agendas of the 1950s and 1960s and the economic liberalisation policies of the 1970s and 1980s - the article argues that the policies of the Iraqi state became the main focus of political action within its borders as soon as the state came into existence. Contrary to widespread notions about the 'artificiality' of the Iraqi state, and thus the 'naturalness' of its possibly impending dismemberment along ethnic and religious lies, Iraq's unravelling, if it happens, will have been the result of the increasing competition for control over local resources by regional and sectarian leaders - a struggle made possible, even necessary, by the disintegration of the mechanisms of centralised governance under the US- and Britain sponsored regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on nationalism in the U.S. and discusses foreign policy of the U.S. from the time of the terrorist attacks of the September 11, 2001 to the Iraq War, 2003. The author of the article Paul T. McCartney argues that enduring nationalist themes provided the basic structure in which citizens of the U.S. organized their comprehension of and reaction to terrorist attacks. In addition, by employing the legitimating power of nationalism to furnish the "official" interpretation of September 11, U.S. President George W. Bush was able to provide a context in which citizens of the U.S. could understand and accept a set of foreign policy goals far broader and more ambitious than a simple response to the immediate attacks would have suggested.

For centuries, the tradition of veiling and public silence repressed the Iranian women both physically and verbally. These conventions stipulated that women's physique should be concealed and their voice, emotion and concern remain unexpressed. Although Iranian women have always played crucial and representative roles in various political and historical eras, the tendency to trivialize and neglect their roles and movements has been rife. This affected Persian literature as well; women were either totally excluded or were marginalized and mentioned very briefly in literature. The Iranian women had challenged these conventions, ventured into the public, and voiced their thoughts and concerns through literature but they were again marginalized and their literature was overlooked due to possessing traditional masculine styles of writing. This sentiment gradually disappeared with the emergence of women authors whose literary works had a different style than men's writings. These writings brought women from the periphery to the center as well. Since then, Iranian women authors have been producing literature to protest against patriarchy and traditional discriminatory policies. They have also been active writers in what now can be regarded as the formerly male-dominated genres that deal with nationalism such as war literature. 'One Woman's War: Da' (2014) is one such work. Drawing upon and reviving Cixous' notion of ecriture feminine, this paper explores how Da, a state-sponsored war memoir, constructs feminine writing that challenges patrilineal culture and highlights women's roles in nation-building projects like the Iran-Iraq war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an analysis of the policies of Turkey toward the development of nationalism, capitalism and state formation in Kurdistan-Iraq and Iraq in 2005. Elections in the provinces of Iraq and for the Kurdish parliament; Reason of the U.S. to involve Turkey in the rebuilding and economic development of Iraq; Commitment of Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan to participate in the U.S. Wider Middle East Initiative.

This article looks at modern sectarian (here referring to Sunni/Shi'a) identities and their interaction with nationalism in the Middle East. In doing so I make three interrelated claims: 1) the term 'sectarianism' is distortive and analytically counterproductive. A better understanding of modern sectarian identity requires us to jettison the term. 2) Once discarded, our focus can then shift to sectarian identity: how it is constructed, perceived, utilized and so forth. A holistic understanding of sectarian identity must recognize the multiple fields upon which it is constructed and contested. The model adopted here frames sectarian identity as simultaneously operating on four fields: doctrinal, subnational, transnational and, crucially for our purposes, the national dimension. 3) Thirdly, this article challenges the assumptions regarding national and sectarian identities in the modern Middle East. Contrary to conventional wisdom, modern sectarian identities are deeply embedded in the prism of the nation‐state and are inextricably linked to nationalism and national identity. The article will rely primarily on the example of modern Iraq but, as will be seen, the Iraqi example is significantly echoed in the cases of Bahrain, Syria and Lebanon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I analyze the texts of the Ottoman-Iraqi author ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Suwaydī (1721–1785) to investigate whether models of participation in national processes available to women in Ottoman Iraq emerged as a result of the Ottoman Empire's adaptation of European nationalism or whether these models existed in some form prior to and helped accelerate the acceptance of European nationalism by the Ottomans. A close reading of al-Suwaydī's accounts of historical events shows that the relationship between women and the state was one in which women were cast as objects of protection. In al-Suwaydī's narratives of encounters with the Shiʿi-Persian Other, women are signifiers of ethnic and sectarian difference and objects of men's protection. Prior to the emergence of Europe as "Other" and as a threat to Ottoman hegemony, men's honor was tied to cloistering women to protect them from falling into captivity or corruption at the hands of Shiʿi Persians, who were cast as Other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Kufa Legal & Political Science is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article discusses the work of Maysalun Hadi, one of Iraq's most prominent women novelists. Throughout her work, Hadi's books deal with themes of Iraqi national identity and nostalgia for the glory days of pan-Arabism that are consistent with the country's pre-2003 ruling Ba'thist ideology. Yet, reading and analyzing her works offer a more comprehensive and nuanced look at this identity, including a limited acceptance of pluralism along with solidarity with the "Iraqi resistance." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nationalism developed in Iraq before the creation of the modern state. As elsewhere, the basic European idea of modern nationalism took root quickly and widely, but it took the form of Arab/Iraqi nationalism and Kurdish proto-nationalism in the first decade of state formation. Shi'i, Sunni, and leftist/liberal variants of nationalism evolved in the decades that followed—but all were forms of Iraqi nationalism, in which the legitimacy of the Iraqi state was taken for granted. Those who assumed that religious differences would be fatal to the viability of the Iraqi state have overlooked the evolution of Iraqis' senses of identity, and the power of nationalist identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Arab Gulf is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article explores an aspect of the micro-politics of the 'new Iraq' by examining the understudied topic of the Iraqi-Kurdish women's movement. Drawing on interviews with women activists in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, we describe and analyze their activities, strategies and objectives in relation to Kurdish nationalism and feminism, focusing on the period since 2003. Rather than conceptualizing nationalism and feminism as either contradictory or compatible frames of reference for these activists, we understand debates among women activists as attempts to 'narrate' the Kurdish nation, particularly in response to the realities of the 'new Iraq'. We contend that nationalism per se is not an obstacle to women's rights in Iraqi Kurdistan. Rather, it is the failure, until now, of women activists to engage with the disjuncture between nation and state that could limit the achievements of their struggle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses narratives that tell of a member of the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel who comes to the rescue of a Jewish community. The tales were documented at the Israel Folktale Archives, in the second half of the twentieth century, and were told by informants from Morocco and Greece. While it is probably impossible to trace the exact routes of these "cultural possessions", around and across the Mediterranean, the texts nevertheless provide a glimpse into the ways in which a network of Jewish communities shared a meta-narrative while adapting it to their own regional contexts. Although these tales are quintessentially diasporic, they also provided a platform for negotiating post-exilic identities in the new Israeli national context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the development of a tenuous Iraqi national identity since the creation of the Iraqi state in 1920. Informed by the ideas of Anthony D. Smith, Benedict Anderson and Eric Hobsbawm, it argues that various political actors in Iraq have sought to reshape historical memory and thus forge a national identity. Despite many setbacks and a long series of authoritarian regimes seeking to appropriate Iraqiness for their own political purposes, and recently the threat from Kurdish irredentism, this article nevertheless contends that an Iraqi cultural ‘ethnicity’ has been created over the past nine decades. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article argues that a reemerging Iraqi Arab nationalism offers a chance for Iraqis to combat sectarian politics. Sectarianism, which Iran as well as various Sunni and Shi‘i Islamists have promoted in Iraq since 2003, ultimately created the instability and malcontent out of which ISIS emerged. Now that ISIS has been defeated on the battlefield, stakeholders should look to consolidate their military victories by transforming them into real political gains. The best way to do so is to build institutions and promote political identity based on the notion of an Arab Iraq. This article is part of a special project conducted by the Foreign Policy Research Institute, titled: “After the Caliphate: Reassessing the Jihadi Threat and Stabilizing the Fertile Crescent,” which includes a book, a thematic issue of Orbis: FPRI's Journal of World Affairs (Summer 2018), and a series of podcasts. Each element of the project can be found here: https://www.fpri.org/research/after-the-caliphate-project/ . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to study the conspicuous impact of the changing historical and political situation in Iraq on the Kurdish intellectual and literary production with particular attention to Kurdish women’s position and perspective on these changes. Focusing on the hectic periods of the Kurdish history and national movement in Iraq, the article answers such intriguing questions as how do the social and political discourses in Iraq shape Kurdish women’s roles and contributions and how has the interplay between Kurdish nationalism and women’s participation developed within the different literary, intellectual and political circles. Chronicling the various socio‐political dimensions of Kurdish national movement and investigating the ways in which Kurdish women’s participation has been relegated both by the Iraqi regimes and within the Kurdish national movements, the article presents a content analysis of different intentions, oversights, and insights of Kurdish and non‐Kurdish political, literary and intellectual actors regarding Kurdish women’s changing roles and desires in Iraq and of the images by which Kurdish women have been presented, thereby positioning itself within a socio‐political studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the roots of the Arab Nationalist movement in Mosul at the beginning of twentieth century from the perspective of indigenous sources of change. It surveys the work of several Mosuli intellectuals using numerous primary sources including published and unpublished biographical material, chronicles, memories, old newspapers and documents. The article points to how the sense of localism and Ottomanism among the elite was transformed to one of Arab and then Iraqi nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the contemporary Iranian-Iraqi connection, it is important to look at their relationship dating back to the Classical Era. With Iran (the Achaemenid Persia) extending its control over the territory today known as Iraq since 550 BC, and with Iraq trying to influence Iranian politics since General Qasim's nationalist coup in 1958 and Saddam Hussayn's invasion of Iran in 1980, the two neighbours show a constant aspiration for more hegemony in the region. This article argues that Iran influences Iraq for its own political, cultural and economic gains, while Iraq influences Iran because of a general failure of Arab nationalist ideologies and the desire to become a power broker in the Persian Gulf region. To do that the following examines Islamic political activism in Iraq; focuses on Ayatullah Khomeini's connection with his Iraqi counterparts during his exile there; and takes a look at the Shah's surveillance of Iranian Communists and their support by the Iraqi government after 1958, as evidenced in the newly released SAVAK documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of identity in Iraq has been debated usually through the lens of the artificiality assumption. This mainstream thesis assumes an absence or weakness of the state/national identity and prioritizes sub-state and supra-state identities. This article examines the existence, scope and content of the national identity in Iraq through its historical and current manifestations. It questions whether the Iraqi identity has constituted an alternative dimension of belonging among the multiple identities of Iraq, in which ways this identity is imagined and constructed, and how it is performed in social and political domains. In this context, it argues that an examination of the Iraqi identity gives an alternative reading of the history of identity in Iraq. Such a reading draws four interrelated conclusions: First, the Iraqi identity has been an important ideological/cultural factor in Iraqi history. Second, Iraqiness has often been in interaction with other identity dimensions. Third, there have been significant differentiations of the imaginations of the Iraqi identity depending on the period and actors. Last, the Iraqi identity has extended beyond the policies of the state and elites and has expanded into the Iraqi society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of creating a sustainable national identity has been one of the major conflict sources, which Iraq has suffered from its early days onwards. This study examines the rationalistic roots of Iraq's identity problem, and how King Faisal's era (1921-1933), which encompassed the British mandate period, both contributed to this problem and tried to evade it. The aim of this study is to gain a basic understanding of Iraq's identity problem, which has been set in motion under King Faisal I, whose legacy is yet to be solved regarding the Iraqi peoples' feeling of belonging. Starting off with the problematique of a national identity framework in Iraq's case, this study elaborates on problems of defining the Iraqi identity, and sheds light on the major sources of which it is fed off; pan-Arab nationalism, tribalism, religion and language. The central argument of this study is that identity is a major indicator for power politics including other aspects of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the beginning of the 70's, as a result of the nationalization of the Iraq Petroleum Company, which until then had been owned by some of the largest oil companies in the world, Iraq fulfi lled the long standing dream of controlling its own oil resources and developing an independent national oil industry. The nationalization of the Iraqi oil supplies was part of a larger question, which involved the overall control of the basic decisions concerning the exploitation of the Middle East Countries' oil resources and which resulted – as is known - in the energy crises of 1973 and 1979, with sharp increases in oil prices and production cutbacks. In view of the growing role of the national oil companies in the producing States, Italian State-owned company ENI (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi) called for a basic policy in which national oil companies would have assumed positions of increasing commitment and responsibility with regard to energy imports. ENI's strategy aimed at concluding agreements with producing Countries in order to provide goods and services in exchange of large quantities of crude oil, so as to bring about an adjustment of the balance of trade and to contribute to local economic development as well. The article, which is based on primary source, mainly on ENI's archival materials, argues that ENI's «oil-for-goods» policy was successfully followed up in Iraq, where the Italian company obtained major contracts covering a variety of important projects in construction, industry, agriculture, housing, public works and training program, so much so that Iraq played a crucial role in ENI's oil strategy during the 70's. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study highlights research on Iraq that includes the Assyrians. It does not intend to argue the validity of definitions of ‘nationness’ and nationalism, but provides a brief description of the variety of ways in which Assyrians have been both included and excluded from modern research on the Middle East and, more specifically, Iraq. Moreover, it resituates the Assyrians in the debate and historiography of Iraqi Studies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Focusing on the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this article explores the ways in which various religious and historical aspects of Ezidism were employed by both non-Ezidi and Ezidi authors to make claims of communal solidarity, national identity or religious categorization. Drawing upon a variety of Kurdish, Syriac, Arabic and Ottoman-language sources, it contextualizes these claims within contemporary historical developments and explores relationships between Ezidis and Assyrian/Syriac Christian communities, state authority, and Kurdish and Arab nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Historical & Cultural Studies an Academic Magazine is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The spread of fear of the coronavirus and related insecurities around the pandemic have fuelled nationalist and increased exclusionary tendencies in countries all over the world. In North America, for instance, anti-Asian racism increased when former US President Donald Trump dubbed the virus the 'Chinese virus'. A nationalist agenda has been strengthened in many places, including the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region; and hateful narratives blaming 'others' for the pandemic, legitimizing a retreat to the protection of national borders and policies, are being spread in different media outlets. This article comparatively investigates processes of othering with regard to COVID-19 in four MENA countries – Egypt, Iraq, Oman and Yemen – and asks, who is held responsible for the coronavirus crisis in different countries? How is othering revealed in media coverage related to COVID-19? What (in)sensitive language can be identified? The study looks at mass media coverage at the peak of the global lockdown during the spring of 2020. The media analysis reveals a strong emphasis on mostly national identities as articulated lines of demarcation in all four cases. A homogenizing and demonizing othering was detected in particular in the cases of Yemen and Egypt, but also Iraq, when blame was attributed to political adversaries. The Omani case was characterized by a more subtle othering that focused strongly on the importance of citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including the Sadrist movement in Iraq, the interaction of Salafism and nationalism in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Ba‘th Party's failed Arabization of Kurd.

This study analyzes the creation of primary unit cohesion among the Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers fighting the Islamic State in northern Iraq and among Hezbollah fighters active in Syria. For this comparative study, Kurdish soldiers were interviewed on three fronts outside Mosul, Erbil, and Kirkuk in February 2015 and May 2016, and Hezbollah fighters were interviewed in Lebanon in March 2016. In contrast to many studies’ depictions of unit cohesion as relating to shared experiences of training and battle, this study argues that the Kurdish soldiers also import into their units various ideas relating to Kurdish identity. These include ideas about nationalism and religion produced through discourses within the Kurdish military and society. However, Hezbollah seeks to minimize political damage in the multisectarian political context in Lebanon while conducting domestically contested military operations abroad. This has led to a downplaying of the sectarian aspects of the conflict, which could be imported from the Shia community to increase unit cohesion, and to an ideological framing of the conflict. The general ideas circulating in society and the political context therefore matter for the strategies that can be used to increase primary unit cohesion and soldiers’ fighting power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to analyse the rise of Kurdistan in Iraq within the context of a panoramic picture of Iraq’s history by contrasting two schools of thought regarding this country’s failed system. One school of thought puts the blame on incompetent Iraqi rulers but mainly on the British colonialists who with their misdeeds, mismanagement and selfish interests brought Iraq to its present situation of a failed state. The other school of thought argues that Iraq’s problems are structural, resulting from the fact that Iraq was an artificial creation; that Iraqi nationalism never struck roots in Iraqi soil; and that primordial loyalties have never disappeared so that in times of crisis they came to the fore. Indeed, there may be a middle ground between the two schools, suggesting that the combination of the unique nature of Iraq and the mismanagement by outside forces joined together to bring about the fatal outcome. My argument is that from the very inception of the Iraqi state there were two competing national movements, Iraqi and Kurdish, that could not coexist except by the central government’s use of force. Once the latter weakened, the Kurdish national project could flourish and vice versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the examination of recent developments in Iraq, Brazil and China, this paper explores the role of public communication in a) generating, corralling, and buttressing political legitimacy, and b) negotiating, demarcating, and reproducing collective identities. The transformation of Iraq's public sphere after the fall of the Ba'ath regime saw it shift from a tightly controlled and unified communication space to unencumbered yet fragmented spheres split along ethno-sectarian lines, buttressing sectarian politics and identities. The emergence of subaltern publics in Brazil's favelas empowered residents to express public dissent, assert their voice, and develop pride in their community. Chinese efforts to control online public discourse provide the government with ways of managing its perceived legitimacy and foster patriotic fellowship online. Legitimation and the affirmation of identity interact and support one another in public discourse, as we illustrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rather than addressing the dated debate of Iraq's 'artificiality', this article analyses the evolution of the term 'Iraq' and by extension the evolution in frames of self-definition in the years 1914-20. I use three key events (the anti-British jihad of 1914, the Najaf rebellion of 1918 and the rebellion of 1920) and examine the discourse that accompanied the events to analyse the changing categories of self-identification on the mid-Euphrates. A clearly discernible ontological evolution of 'Iraq' in the popular imagination is revealed thereby clarifying and explaining the rapid rise and adoption of Iraqi nationalism in the early twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a consideration of the nexus of photography, masculinity, and American nationalism in the traumatic post-9/11 context of the war in Iraq. It begins by outlining a theoretical framework for the interpretation of contemporary images of men at war. This background informs the rest of the argument, which is structured around an analysis of a particular collection of images from a commemorative photo history of the ongoing conflict. The photos are freighted with particular narratives about the shape and meaning of militarized and imaged masculinity in the global war on terrorism, particularly as it intersects with race, ethnicity, and sexuality. Ultimately, the article contends that the relationships between visuality, nationalism, and masculinity are intimate, and that attention to this imbrication is essential to an understanding of the discourses and politics of the war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses relations among the Ottoman Empire, British imperialism and Shia religious proto-nationalism in the period before and after the battle of Sha’iba of 1915, one of the pivotal engagements of the Mesopotamian campaign. It illustrates how the narrow victory of the British at the battle led them to draw a number of over-optimistic conclusions regarding their role in Iraq and their ability to co-opt the Arabs of the province against their ‘Turkish’ overlords. The victory at Sha’iba and in particular the ambivalent role played by a number of the Arab mujahidin volunteers led the British to conclude that there had never been any real enthusiasm for the jihad declared by the Ottomans against the British occupiers. However, this was based on the false perception that lack of commitment to Ottomanism could be equated with sympathy for British imperialism. In particular, the British failed to recognise that the Ottoman summons to jihad had strengthened the developing forms of Shia proto-nationalist consciousness led by various mujtahids influenced by the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A variety of studies suggest that a high need for closure-that is, a desire for knowledge that is clear, stable, and unambiguous as opposed to confusing or uncertain-may be associated with greater hostility toward relevant outgroups. Using international attitudes as the context, the authors examine the hypothesis that the relationship between the need for closure and support for military action against Iraq may be moderated by identification with the national ingroup. Specifically, it is expected that this relationship will be moderated by nationalism (i. e., an aggressive form of identification based on a desire for national dominance) but not patriotism (i.e., a more neutral love of one's country). The data provided a clear pattern of support for this hypothesis and additional analyses indicated that a high need for closure reduced variability about the use of force among the highly nationalistic but not the highly patriotic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Babylon Center for Humanities Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of College of Education / Wasit is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)