State De-Construction in Iraq and Syria

In: Politische Vierteljahresschrift: PVS : German political science quarterly, Volume 57, Issue 4, p. 560-585

Abstract

In International Historical Sociology, states and states systems co-constitute each. - other. While IHS focuses on state formation, this paper argues that state de-formation, and in. - its extremes, state failure, is also "co-constituted". In Syria and Iraq, state failure was coconstituted. - through an interaction between internal insurgencies and the Western interventions. - aiming at regime change. Iraq and Syria were created by Western imperialism as weak. - states suffering from identity fragmentation and pervasive irredentism. Ba'thist state builders. - used populist versions of neo-patrimonialism to consolidate regimes but excluded social. - forces were permanently poised for rebellion and regime decline gave them opportunities to. - bid for power. Nevertheless, external intervention was the extra factor that initiated state. - de-construction and tipped both into failed states. In Iraq the US invasion deconstructed the. - existing state and established a sectarian based regime bound to fail. In Syria, shrinking inclusiveness. - led to revolt but external intervention, making it a battleground of regional and. - global powers, tipped the country into a failed state. Two failed states left a vacuum in which. - the 'Islamic State' arose, inviting yet a further round of external intervention. (Politische Vierteljahresschrift/ FUB)