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| Politics and Society in Iraq in the 20th Century |
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SPEAKER:
Sami Zubaida
Emeritus Professor of Politics and Sociology, Birkbeck College, University of London
Research Associate, London Middle East Institute
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ABOUT THE LECTURE:
Many Westerners view the Iraqis as a tribal, clannish people unlikely to achieve modern statehood. This view must be modified, says Sami Zubaida, in light of the country’s attempt to embrace civil society less than a century ago. In an illuminating history, Zubaida points out that in response to the British-imposed rule, which lasted until 1958, many Iraqi groups aimed at liberation and reform. Sunnis promoted pan-Arab nationalism, but there was also a Communist Party of Iraq, and Shi’ites, Christians, Jews and Kurds advocated their own ideologies. Zubaida sees “a genuine commitment to citizenship” in this period. After the Iraqi revolution, which toppled the monarchy, and the rapid rise of the Baathists, there was “still social effervescence, under political repression and censorship.” Intellectuals, labor groups and students opposed the new regime, as well as daring poets and musicians, who poked fun at politicians, and got a night in jail. While the Sunni remained politically powerful, Shi’a religious institutions collected revenues from pilgrimages and holy shrines, and Shi’a merchant families arose, including the infamous Chalabis. But the Baath under Saddam Hussein increasingly clamped down on subversives and groups considered a threat, expelling and persecuting millions. “What the Baath regime did was to colonize civil society….All previous autonomous forms of associations, of art and literature, of universities, all of this was firmly put under the control of the party. All that was left was religion, patriarchy, communal and local sentiments.” To Zubaida, the prospect of a democratic, pluralist state under rule of law “seems utopian right now.” Yet recent elections “showed excitement that echoed the past and showed reason for guarded optimism.”
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Zubaida attended public school in Baghdad, Iraq, then universities in England. His research involves the religion, culture, politics and law of the Middle East. More recently he has focused on politics and society in the formation of modern Iraq. Major publications include Islam, the People and the State: Political Ideas and Movements in the Middle East, (1993); A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East, (2000, co-edited with R. Tapper); and Law and Power in the Islamic World, (2003).
Zubaida's Birkbeck College website
NOTES ON THE VIDEO (Time Index):
Video length is 1:45:36.
Yosef Jabareen introduces the colloquium.
At 4:30, Sami Zubaida begins.
At 1:00:05, Diane Davis, Professor of Political Sociology, DUSP, and Associate Dean, MIT School of Architecture and Urban Planning, poses questions to Zubaida.
At 1:11:03, Zubaida responds to Davis.
At 1:20:00, general Q&A begins.
The information on this page was accurate as of the day the video was added to MIT World. This video was added to MIT World on 2005-03-24.
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