Legacies of authoritarinism and emergence of political sectarianism in Iraq

Asmaiel Mersham
2013 / 12 / 14

Legacies of authoritarinism and emergence of political sectarianism in Iraq
Iraq is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society-;- hence, the Iraqi society is widely consisting of components. On one hand ethnic diversity-;- Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, and Assyrians and others, and religion factions cut across ethnic fragmentation on the other-;- Shiite-Sunni Muslims, and Christians. The majority of Sunni Arabs are in the Eastern and center areas while Shiite Arabs are in the South and Kurds and Turkmens are located in the North. Yet throughout the country from North to South and East to West, ethnic and religious factions overlap.
In Iraqis modern history, the people have suffered a lot of sectarian (Sunni-Shiite) and ethnical problem issues (Arab-Kurdish-Turkmen) which have taken different forms and played a major role in the lack of political stability and economical prosperity.
During the Ottoman rule, which lasted four centuries, the entire Iraqi nations were oppressed, but the share was different among Iraqi components, for example the Shiite were marginalized and sometimes even regarded as apostates (Rawafaz) and outlaws from Islam.
After British occupied the region in the end of the First World War, both of Shiite and Kurds resisted the British colony, and then the policy of discrimination against them solidified and continued. Upon the establishment of the modern Iraqi state in 1921, the British colony brought King Faisal 1 from Saudi Arabia and installed on the throne with minority Sunni Arab dominated the governance of the country with scarce participation of the rest of the components, like Shiite and Kurds.
This policy has emerged sharply after ending the Monarchy and excessively in the region of the two brothers Araf, who ruled the country in 1960s, and maximized during Saddam’s era, who utilized it to maintain and sustain his power as long as possible. This ensured a policy of exclusiveness and oppression was normal. Saddam’s Bath party during 1980s forced and displaced hundreds of thousands of Shiites to Iran and confiscated their properties while waging a genocide campaign against Kurds in the North of the country. These policies caused both communities horrible collective memories.
The authoritarian regime in Iraq aimed to prolong their rule by exploited the components of society. The main strategy was exclusiveness and marginalizing Shiites and Kurds, blaming them for their luck of “loyalty” to the system using “divide and conquer” policies. This resulted in rebounded political sectarianism which remained beneath the surface for decades. In 2003 after the regime was toppled by U.S, those held repressed feeling-collective memories- raised and caused polarization, political sectarianism and violence among the community.

Now days we experience similar polarization and political sectarianism after authoritarian regime have been changed by the hands of local people in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen.




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