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Ethnicity, federalism and the idea of sectarian citizenship in Iraq: a critique
31-12-2007 Article, International Review of the Red Cross, No. 868, by Reidar Visser
The article discusses the “ethnic paradigm” that currently prevails in analyses of Iraqi history and politics. While acknowledging the strong forces associated with ethnic and sectarian loyalties in the country, the article points to three important indicators of the surviving Iraqi nationalist sentiment that cuts across these ethno-sectarian categories.
Abstract
The article discusses the ‘‘ethnic paradigm’’ that currently prevails in analyses of Iraqi history and politics. While acknowledging the strong forces associated with ethnic and sectarian loyalties in the country, the article points to three important indicators of the surviving Iraqi nationalist sentiment that cut across these ethno-sectarian categories. It highlights the misfit between Western approaches to Iraqi politics and indigenous Iraqi political thinking on ethnicity and sectarianism, and pays special attention to the implications for the debates about federalism and the partitioning – ‘‘soft’’ or ‘‘hard’’ – of Iraq.
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