1 / 21

Questions about Authoritarianism

Questions about Authoritarianism. The Case of Iraq. Map of Iraq. Background on Iraq: Four Points To Remember. Iraq did not exist as a state prior to 1921. Created from 3 Ottoman provinces of Mosul, Baghdad, & Basra Diverse Population Religious divisions: Sunnis, Shiites (& Christians)

ivanbritt
Download Presentation

Questions about Authoritarianism

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Questions about Authoritarianism The Case of Iraq

  2. Map of Iraq

  3. Background on Iraq:Four Points To Remember • Iraq did not exist as a state prior to 1921. • Created from 3 Ottoman provinces of Mosul, Baghdad, & Basra • Diverse Population • Religious divisions: Sunnis, Shiites (& Christians) • Ethno-linguistic divisions: Arabs, Kurds • Population: 60% Shiite Arab; 15% Sunni Arab; 20% Kurd (mostly Sunnis) • Urban-Rural divisions • British invasion and colonial administration • Nov 1914 British invasion • Imported monarchy • 1921 Faisal from Arabia becomes king. Iraq gains formal independence in 1932.

  4. Question #1 Why did Iraq’s constitutional monarchy collapse?

  5. Faisal I, 1st king of Iraq Photos from Iraqipages.com

  6. Iraq as Constitutional Monarchy: Formal Institutions of the State • King (a new institution) • Supreme head of state • Could open & dissolve Parliament • Confirms laws • Selects PM • Could grant pardons, issue special ordinances • Parliament • Shares legislative power with the king • Appointed Senate & elected chamber of deputies

  7. How politics really worked: actual power • Monarchy • Infighting = ineffective PM & Parliament • Tribal chiefs • Re-empowered by Britain • Britain • Retained military bases, control of Iraqi foreign policy, control over Iraq’s finances, advisors • How did the British retain control? • Divide and rule: country vs town; tribe vs king; tribe vs tribe • Military force (especially air power) “If the writ of King Faisal runs effectively throughout his kingdom it is entirely due to British aeroplanes. If the aeroplanes were removed tomorrow, the whole structure would invariably fall to pieces.” - British Secretary of State report on Iraq, 1925

  8. Results: Catch 22s • Fledgling sense of Iraqi national identity but “two Iraqs” and no real independence • King wants independence but relies on British to maintain power • British support undermines state legitimacy but necessary for maintaining power • Centralization of power in Baghdad but British support for tribes • to create mass support, land reform needed, but narrow base of state support requires some aid from tribal leaders • Sunni dominance but Shiite majority

  9. End of the monarchy • Retreat: Fading Monarch and Rising Army • Threat: New political actors and ideologies • The Iraqi Communist Party (1935) • The Baath (Resurrection) Party (1952) • Arab nationalist, secular, Arab socialist, anti-imperialist, populist, revolutionary (not reformist) • Egypt and Pan-Arabism • Coups • 1958 Iraqi “Revolution” • 1963 and 1968 coups Abd al Karim Qasim, President of Iraq, 1958-1963

  10. Results: • Violence becomes entrenched part of Iraqi political culture • Army influence over politics prevents civilian access, impedes societal coalition building • Between 1958 and 1968 more than 10 coups and attempted coups, two armed rebellions, semicontinuous civil war with the Kurds. • 25-35% of all cabinet posts held by military men • Three presidents, most PMs, and almost all ministers of interior and defense were ex-military men • Newly independent foreign policy • Some land reforms & sporadic inclusion of Shiites & Kurds into the political process

  11. Iraq as a single-party oligarchy Rule by the Ba’ath Party, 1968-1980s

  12. Question #2 How did the Baath Party assert and maintain power?

  13. 1. Oil • Nationalization of the Iraq Petroleum Company in 1972 + OPEC oil embargo and hike in prices in 1973 = skyrocketing oil revenues for Ba’th use • 1968 oil revenues: $476 million; 1980- $26 billion • In 1979 Iraq’s oil production second only to Saudi Arabia’s in oil-producing states of the Persian Gulf.

  14. reduction of taxes Subsidies for basic food Free, high quality health care No university tuition fees Improvements in status of women (In ’82 more than 30 % univ. students were female) Extensive literacy campaigns new highway systems & better infrastructure Subsidies of ordinary consumption items Land ownerships & no taxes for many Shiite peasants living in the south Extensive reforms in the countryside; new land distributed to farmers between 1970 and 1982 264,400 farmers received grants of land. 2. Social welfare

  15. Saddam Hussein visiting homes, 1980s

  16. 3. Social control, fear & terror • Baath takeover of social organizations • Repression and persecution of all potential dissidents •  Creation of multiple, alternative sets of internal security organizations • State internal security, military intelligence, party intelligence • Massive surveillance and informant system • Internal Purges •  Forced internal migration to resettle restive areas (especially Kurds and Shiite Marsh Arabs)

  17. 4. Cult of Personality

  18. 5. War • Iran-Iraq War 1980-1989 • Gulf War 1990-1991

  19. Question #3 What accounts for Iraq’s highly authoritarian politics? Why have Iraq’s political systems been so undemocratic for so long?

More Related