Iraq, a State in Search of a Nation

Iraq is a nation that should never have been created, according to Beeman, who challenges the notion that this multiethnic state has an intrinsic integrity as a nation that could be preserved by American intervention. Conceived as a convenience to British colonial power following World War I, it was a nation with impossible difficulties from the start--indefensible borders, disparate rivalrous ethnic and religious groups, and a resource that was essential for the colonial powers of the West--oil. The only way for this nation of Kurds, Shi'ites, and Sunni to hold itself together was through autocratic rule or colonial domination. Iraq has never coalesced into a true nation. Iraq is a nation that should never have been created, according to Beeman, who challenges the notion that this multiethnic state has an intrinsic integrity as a nation that could be preserved by American intervention. Conceived as a convenience to British colonial power following World War I, it was a nation with impossible difficulties from the start--indefensible borders, disparate rivalrous ethnic and religious groups, and a resource that was essential for the colonial powers of the West--oil. The only way for this nation of Kurds, Shi'ites, and Sunni to hold itself together was through autocratic rule or colonial domination. Iraq has never coalesced into a true nation. This book documents the social and cultural processes that Iraqis and foreign powers have implemented to try to hold the state together and forge a national consciousness. Beeman demonstrates that very little has changed in over 100 years in terms of making progress toward true nationhood; the difficulties that the British faced in 1917 are still very much in evidence today for the Americans and coalition forces. Attempts at nation building that fail to take these long-standing dynamics into account are doomed to failure. The people of Iraq face three dissolution of the state into component parts, federation, or continued autocratic rule with foreign military as a guarantee of peace and continued access to oil. This book will interest concerned citizens, policy makers, journalists, as well as students of anthropology, foreign policy, and Middle Eastern studies.