Sectarianism and Statecraft in Iraq: Investigating the American Occupation and Counterinsurgency

• In Event: 473 - Section on Political Economy of the World-System Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 07. States, Semiperipheries, and Sports

Abstract

The juridical foundations of the Iraqi state laid down by the American occupation, combined with the American counterinsurgency policies created an Iraqi state susceptible to sectarianism. I explore the period between the start of the invasion and December 2005, when the first legislative elections after the passage of the permanent constitution was held, with a specific focus on the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)– the American occupation administration. I build on fieldwork conducted in 2005, as well as analysis of the Transitional Administrative Law, two drafts of the permanent constitution, the permanent Iraqi constitution, 112 orders and regulations imposed by the CPA, and agreements and treaties it entered into.

I highlight three processes that I argue structured the sectarian nature of the Iraqi state, as well as what has become episodic sectarian ruptures since the 2003 invasion. These processes include: the promotion of sectarian political forces; policies of de-Ba’athification and the disbanding of the Iraqi army; and the creation of a weak central government. The result was the creation of overlapping and contradictory conceptualizations of national identity and bureaucratic sovereignty, which sustained and reproduced sectarian tensions in Iraq.

The case of Iraq represents the new modality of neoliberal statecraft and illustrates the consequences of the one-size-fit-all ideology of neoliberal development that continues to be peddled in other countries, especially in post-conflict scenarios.

Author

• Yousef Kazem Baker, California State University-Long Beach