Research Category

Modern Middle Eastern politics, Iraqi politics

Area of Interest

National unification in Iraq, nationalism, modern Islamic movements

Recent Thoughts

When I see the crises of national division and civil war facing Iraqi society since the war ended, I fully realize the powerlessness of scholarship. On the other hand, although Iraqi  academia has been cut off from the international community and its members exposed to life-threatening danger, the desire of Iraqi scholars struggling to keep abreast of foreign research trends comes through very strongly. When I see their efforts, I realize that there is still much that scholars can do, but the basic problem currently causing me a headache is the question of how to get books to universities and research institutions in Iraq while this terrible security situation continues.

Publications

• "Tribalization as a Tool of State Control in Iraq" in Faleh Abdul-Jabar and Hosham Dawood ed., Tribes and power: nationalism and ethnicity in the Middle East , London: Saqi, 2003, pp.136-159

Recent/Ongoing Works

• "Tribal and local identity in Iraq: remobilised networks as an alternative to the party system", in Hala Fattah, ed., Identity, Nation, and State in Iraq, Palgrave, forthcoming

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