Iraq: Eastern Flank of the Arab World

Christine Moss Helms

doi:10.5771/9780815716228

Summary

Iraq, holding oil reserves second only to those of Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, is locked in a war with Iran whose outcome will affect Western energy supplies and the prospects for stability in the Arabian Gulf. Yet Iraq even now remains little known to Western governments and publics. This study is intended to enlarge understanding of Iraqi behavior and of the concerns that motivate its leaders. Some may find it unconventional. Rather than selecting issues of importance to other countries, the author focuses on the forces that influence policy formulation in Iraq and evokes the perspective from which the Iraqi government itself views its problems and sets its priorities. Part 1 examines the country's evolution into modern Iraq, explaining why problems that have recurred throughout Iraqi history have bedeviled all recent Iraqi governments and created tension between "Iraq the nation" and "Iraq the state." Part 2 discusses the Arab Ba'th Socialist party, which has dominated Iraqi political life since 1968. The author neither condemns nor praises this controversial party and its current leader, President Saddam Husain, but seeks to explain why they have adopted the positions and taken the actions that have characterized their rule. Part 3 analyzes the war between Iraq and Iran, its causes, and the decisions Iraq has made in light of its goals and its assumptions about Iran. The author finds that this is not simply "a war over borders" but a deeper conflict between Islamic conservatism and Arab nationalism. Looking beyond the war, the final chapter assesses Iraq's potential importance in the Middle East and to the world economy.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2010
Copyright Year: 2010
ISBN-Print: 978-0-8157-3555-7
ISBN-Online: 978-0-8157-1622-8
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 215
Product Type: Monograph

1. Contents No access
Introduction No access Pages 1 - 4
1. 1. Land Use and Patterns of Settlement No access
  2. Pluralism: Sources and Trends No access
2. 1. Origins No access
  2. Wellsprings of Foreign Policy No access
  3. Current Perceptions of Strategic Interests No access
  4. Conclusion No access
1. 1. Origins and Development of the Party to 1968 No access
  2. Ba'thists and Communists: An Uneasy Relationship No access
2. 1. Structure and Decisionmaking No access
  2. "Unity, Freedom, Socialism": Goals in Theory and Practice No access
  3. Six Problems No access
1. 1. Turning Inward No access
  2. Iran and Iraq: Wary Neighbors No access
  3. From the Islamic Revolution to the Outbreak of War No access
2. 1. Iraqi Goals and Assumptions No access
  2. Military Strategy No access
  3. External Responses to the War No access
  4. The War Becomes Intractable No access
  5. A Time of Testing No access
3. 1. Iraq as a Regional and Global Actor No access
  2. Constraints on Domestic and Foreign Policies No access
  3. Iraq and the West No access
  4. Conclusion No access
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