Tribalism in Iraq, the old and the new

Middle East Policy

Volumn 7, Issue 3, 2000, Pages 51-58

  Yaphe, Judith ^a  

^a NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0034415845     PISSN: 10611924     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4967.2000.tb00162.x     Document Type: Article

References (9)

1. The word connotes tribal solidarity, clannishness, tribalism and race as well as national consciousness.
2. The creation of a new nationalism, which harks back to ancient and historical glories from the mists of time, is similar to Mussolini's glorification of ancient Rome, Hitler's pride in the folk culture of pre-Christian Germanic tribes, Ataturk's vision of Hittite culture, and Reza Shah's vision of the new Aryan nation at Persepolis. Saddam frequently invokes Hammurabi, Salah al-Din, Abraham of Ur and other hoary figures as well as Islam's pantheon of Muhammad, Hussein and other saints to embellish his own persona as well as Iraq's pride in its history and culture.
3. See Phebe Marr, The Modern History of Iraq (Westview, 1985).
4. See Faleh Abu Jabar, "The Reconstruction and Deconstruction of Iraq's Tribes: Tribalism under Patrimonial Totalitarianism, 1968-1998," unpublished paper, October 14, 1999.
5. Ibid., p. 17.
6. Ibid., p. 9.
7. Amatzia Baram, "Neo-Tribalism in Iraq: Saddam Hussein's Tribal Policies 1991-96," International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 29, No. 1, February 1997, pp. 1-31.
8. Ibid., p. 15.
9. Ibid., p. 18.