Suchergebnisse

A review essay on a book by Liora Lukitz, Iraq. The Search for National Identity (London & Portland: Frank Cass, 1995), which describes historical facts that have affected Iraq's vacillation between integration & dismemberment & solidarity & instability. Lukitz relies on a presumed common culture to explain the attempt to find a national identity, even though her study reveals the diverse & often antagonistic ethnic-communal identities of Iraqi society that have resisted unifying efforts. She traces Iraq's development from its beginnings & shows how new state laws, procedures, & nationalist ideology raised the question of whose state it is & strengthened community allegiances, thereby encouraging social conflict. Iraq lacks popular consent, which distinguishes legitimate rule, & power has been retained by the use of armed forces to crush resistance to centralized authority. Iraqi attempts to create a larger Arab state are discussed, & Lukitz's analyses are compared to other literature that focuses on national identity in the Middle East. J. Lindroth