World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies

Barcelona, July 19th - 24th 2010

· NOT_DEFINED date: WED 21, 9.00-11.00 am

· NOT_DEFINED institution: University of Calgary, Canada

· NOT_DEFINED organizer: Tareq Y. Ismael

· NOT_DEFINED sponsor: International Association of Contemporary Iraqi Studies , IACIS

· NOT_DEFINED language: English

· NOT_DEFINED description: This panel, chaired by Tareq Ismael, will provide a critical assessment in both theoretical and policy terms of the US objective of “state-ending” in Iraq. The panel will focus on this concept and its unforeseen but foreseeable consequence for Iraqis and the region. Attention will be given to the ways “state-ending” challenges standard ways of understanding foreign policy and provides a reasonable metric for ascribing responsibility for the high human and cultural costs of the American-led invasion. The invasion and toppling of Saddam Hussein is now routinely spoken of as a US foreign policy success that provides a model for action elsewhere in the region. The panel assesses the costs and consequences of a policy of state-ending.

Chair: Tareq Ismael (University of Calgary, Canada)

Paper presenter: Raymond William Baker (Trinity College, USA and American University, Cairo, Egypt), “State-Ending: What the Iraqi ‘Success’ Really Means”
The first paper, “State-Ending: What the Iraqi ‘Success’ Really Means” by Raymond William Baker, aims to bring this animating concept of “state-ending” into full view and to use this clearly articulated US war aim as a measure for the ‘success’ of the US-led Iraqi invasion. Particular attention is paid to the human and cultural consequences of the invasion and post-invasion remaking of Iraq, alongside the standard geo-political assessment.

Paper presenter: Tareq Ismael (University of Calgary, Canada), “Ruination: Cultivating Sectarianism in the Ruins of Iraq”
The second paper, “Ruination: Cultivating Sectarianism in the Ruins of Iraq” by Tareq Ismael, explores a major consequence of the US invasion and devastation of Iraq: the rise of militant sectarianism. The implications of the new sectarianism are explored in its Iraqi, regional, and global implications. What exactly has US policy wrought and with what implications for Iraqis and the region? This paper aims to critically examine the standard account of Iraqi political culture and to distinguish differing forms of sectarianism in Iraqi political history; separating the phenomenon of social or folkloric sectarianism from political sectarianism.

Paper presenter: Dirk Adriaensens (University of Calgary, Canada), “Occupation and the Murdering of Iraqi Academics”
The third paper, “Occupation and the Murdering of Iraqi Academics” by Dirk Adriaesens, aims to both document and explain the slaughter of Iraqi academics in post-invasion. The work of documenting the assassinations continues but enough has been recorded and documented to allow careful analysis. How can responsibility for this atrocity be fixed and what are its long-term implications for Iraq as a national entity?

Paper presenter: François Burgat (University of Calgary, Canada), “Political Islam and the US Invasion, Occupation, and Crippling of Iraq”
The fourth and final paper, “Political Islam and the US Invasion, Occupation, and Crippling of Iraq” by Francois Burgat, analyzes the impact of the assault on the Iraqi state and people for Islamist movements throughout the region. How have important Islamist movements understood developments in Iraq and what have been the broader implications of the invasion and occupation of Iraq for Political Islam?

Paper presenter: Kamil Al-adhadh (Independent scholar and economic consultant), “An Assessment of Oil Production Policy in Iraq”
This paper aims at highlighting a discussion on the most efficient oil policies to be pursued by any Iraqi Government, which may advocate its mandatory duties to protect and promote the present and future economic and social welfare of the Iraqi people. It begins by providing a brief historical background of the Iraqi economy and the role of its oil wealth in the course of its development. The paper also assesses the interlocking nature of duality and rentiersim, and their theoretical and empirical outlets. The paper then focuses on the present oil policies, as advocated and pursued by the Iraqi Ministry of Oil. An overall assessment of the two types of Oil Investment Models, as propagated in the post 2003 Iraq, will also be provided.