Table Of ContentSECTARIANISm IN IRAQ
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FANAR HADDAD
Sectarianism in Iraq
Antagonistic Visions of Unity
A
A
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Copyright © 2011 Fanar Haddad
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Fanar Haddad
Sectarianism in Iraq
Antagonistic Visions of Unity
ISBN 978-0-19-932-738-6
To my parents
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
1. Introduction 1
2. Approaching a Theory of Sectarianism 7
Defining Sectarianism 8
Drivers of Sectarian Identity 10
External Influence 10
Economic Competition 14
Competing myth-Symbol Complexes 17
Contested Cultural Ownership of the Nation 21
‘Ethnohistories’ and the Formation of Sectarian Identity 23
Assertive, Passive and Banal Sectarianism 25
3. Sectarianism in Iraq 31
Iraqi Nationalism between State, Sunnis and Shi’as 32
Sectarian Relations and Dominant Narratives of the
Iraqi Nation-State 38
The Conflation of Sectarian Identity with Ethnicity 40
The Suppression of Shi’a Identity 43
The Interaction of Sunni and Shi’a identities 51
‘We’re all Brothers’ 52
Class and Geographic Boundaries 56
Sectarian Relations in Social Relations 60
A Final Qualifier 62
4. The Events of march 1991 65
Beginnings 66
Leadership and Coordination 69
vii
CONTENTS
The End of the Uprisings 73
Iran and the Uprisings 76
Contentious Symbolism 80
The Consequences of the Events of 1991 84
5. The Sanctions-Era 87
The Economic Breakdown 89
Neo-Tribalism 94
The Religious Revival 103
Al-Hamla al-Imaniya 105
Sectarian Identity 109
Conclusion 115
6. Sectarian Relations and the mythology of 1991 117
The State’s Response 118
The Page of Betrayal and Treason 127
Al-Intifada al-Sha’abaniyah 132
7. Sectarian Relations in Post-2003 Iraq 143
The New Iraq 143
Sectarian Identity in Post-2003 Iraq 145
Outsiders, Insiders and the Formalisation of Sectarian Politics 147
The Collision of Myth-Symbol Complexes in Post-2003 Iraq 151
Sectarian Nationalism in Post-2003 Iraq 152
The Contest for Cultural Ownership of Iraq 154
An Old Symbol in a New Environment: the mass Graves 162
Iraq, the Arab World and Arab Identity 166
Arab Fighters in the Sectarian Imagination 172
Competing Victimhoods 175
8. Civil War 179
What is a Civil War? 179
Ethnic Conflict 182
Sectarian Relations and Sectarian Civil War 185
The Symbols of Assertive and Aggressive Sectarianism 187
Fixing the Breakdown 199
Conclusion 205
Notes 211
Selected Bibliography 273
Glossary 287
Index 291
viii
ACKNOWLEDGmENTS
my research is not strictly limited to the ‘scientific’ but benefits from the
insights and experiences of friends, family, acquaintances and colleagues all of
whom have been of immeasurable value without having to be officially inter-
viewed. my thanks to all of them.
I am particularly indebted to mohammad Jewad al Ali and his family, Azhar
and maryam, and to Ayad Sultan for their help in finding sources and in shar-
ing their experiences and insights. This book would never have been written
were it not for their help. I would also like to thank all those interviewed for
sharing their often painful and intimate memories.
I would also like to express my gratitude to my PhD supervisor Gareth Stans-
field for his continuous support and encouragement. I am also indebted to Saj-
jad Rizvi and to Ahab Bdaiwi for their encyclopaedic knowledge of Shi’ism.
Likewise, I would like to thank Ronen Zeidel for his thoughts on sectarian
identity and sectarian relations and for his considerable contribution to my own
thinking on the subject. I am also indebted to mathew Preston for his help on
conflict theory. my thanks as well to Reidar Visser for his help, encouragement
and support on this and other projects. I would also like to express my heartfelt
gratitude to Raeid Jewad who assumed the position of unofficial reader! His
comments and support, not to mention his proofing, are much appreciated.
The greatest debt of all is owed to my parents and to my brothers; their love,
faith, encouragement and support has been an asset throughout my life. I
would also like to thank my father for his help in deciphering and translating
Iraqi regional dialects.
Finally I would like to thank Amina for her love, support, encouragement
and saintly patience. George Orwell famously described the process of writing
a book as a, ‘horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful ill-
ness.’ Amina’s presence throughout the writing of this book ensured that I
would be unable to share Orwell’s lament and for that I thank her.
ix
