International Relations: Case Study of the U.S. Invasion of Iraq

*Nation-State System

Steger, Globalization a Very Short Introduction, pp. 64-67

What is the modern nation-state system? What are the defining characteristics of a nation-state in this system?

European Concept

Treaty of Westphalia, 1648

Fixed borders

Territorial sovereignty

European Colonization of world, 19th C.

Treaty of Versailles, 1919

National identity=Nation-state

Decolonization, 20th Century

United Nations & International Law

"Equal" and "sovereign" states

51 equal and sovereign states in 1945

Decolonization and civil wars, late 20th Century

193 member states + 2 observer states in 2019

Unwritten code

Force rules in foreign affairs

Strong vs. weak national identities

Quick Case Study of Eastern Europe

Treaty of Versailles carved up old empires, 1919

Yugoslavia (1919-1992) until civil war

Serbia

Croatia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Montenegro

Kosovo

Czechoslovakia (1919-1993) until plebiscite

Czech Republic

Slovakia

Fall of Soviet Union, 1991

Crimea: Part of Ukraine (1991-2014) until Russian invasion

Background Briefing: Iraqi History and Foreign Relations, 1916-1979

American Ethnocentrism

Ancient Mesopotamia

“Land between the rivers”

Tigris and Euphrates

World's earliest cities, 3600 BCE

World's earliest writing

Cuneiform, 3300 BCE

Islamic Imperial Capital

Abbasid Caliphate, 749-1258

Capital in Baghdad, Founded in 762

Premodern Iraqi History

How might the long history of human civilization in Mesopotamia influence modern Iraqi national self-identity? How could Iraqi national self-identity conflict with a typical ethnocentric American's view of Iraq?

Ottoman Empire Conquest, 1534

3 Ottoman provinces (wilayets), Anderson, p. 6

Typically drawn with religious and ethnic differences in mind

The Birth of Iraq

World War I

British invasion of 3 Ottoman Empire provinces from Kuwait

Basra

Baghdad

Mosul

Military occupation 1916-20

British “Mandate” of Mesopotamia, 1920-32

British Created Iraq, 1916-20

Why did the journalist Sandra Mackey write that Iraq was an "improbable country"? (Anderson, p. 9) Do you agree?

Population 32.5 million today

Political Map

Distribution of Iraq's Religious and Ethnic Groups Map

Ethnicity

Arab 75%-80%

Kurdish 15%-20%

Turkoman, Assyrian or other 5%

Religion

Muslim 97%

Shi'ite 60%-65%

Sunni 32%-37%

Christian 1.0%?

3% prior to U.S. invasion

Iraq's Political Instability, 1920-68

*British Mandate of Mesopotamia, 1920-32

National unrest

Constitutional monarchy, 1921-58

King Faisal, r. 1921-33

Weak son and grandson, 1933-1958

Ghazi I 1933-39

Faisal II 1939-58

Political instability

Military coups

Nationalist revolution, 1958

Inspired by Egyptian Revolution under Nasser, 1952

Political instability, 1958-68

Gen. Abdul Karim Qassim, "President," 1958-63

Series of coups

*Ba'th (Revival) Party Rule, 1968-2003

5,000 members, 1968

Dictatorship

Nazi and Leninist techniques

General Ahmed Hussein al-Bakr "President," 1968-1979

*Saddam Hussein, "President," 1979-2003

Political policies

Secular nationalism

Education

Gender Equality

Dictatorship

Nazi and Leninist techniques

Anderson, Bush's Wars, pp. 20-24

Why were General al-Bakr and Saddam Hussein able to seize and hold onto domestic power so effectively from 1968 to 2003?

Political power consolidated

Personal loyalties of military (p. 20)

Tikrit connections

Army & Republican Guard officers

Secret Police (Mukhabarat)

Intimidation of opponents (pp. 23-24)

Modernization policies (pp. 22-23)

Economic development

Oil wealth, 1970s

Public education

Literacy rate, 2000 est.

Overall: 74.1%

male: 84.1%

female: 64.2%