A Study Of The Iraqi Nation-State Building

The nation-state is the most basic form of state in the modern times,and is the basic unit in the modern world system.The nation-state,which originated in West Europe in the 17-th Century and had spread all over the world,has become the most basic behavior of international relations.Unlike the western nation-state,which had grown up with the development of the capitalism and the disintegration of feudal dynasty,the nation-state in the Middle East is result of the national democratic revolution against colonialism and the disintegration of the Western colonial system.Therefore,this kind of nation-state is called"the external form nation-state".Construction mode of "external form of nation" has the characteristics of complexity,arduousness and variety when compared with the western nation-state,due to the objective differences in historical background,ethnic composition,economic base and traditional culture.The Iraq is the state with the deep-rooted tribe society,the sharp ethnic conflict and the complex sectarian conflict.Therefore,the study of the Iraqi nation-state building has important practice values.This dissertation systematically analyzes the construction process of the nation-state of Iraq from the three dimensions of theory,history and reality.The dissertation consists of eight parts.The introduction mainly discusses the reasons and the significance of the research,and the conclusion is mainly about the analysis of the difficulties encountered in the process of the nation-state building in Iraq.The main body is composed of six chapters.The nation-state construction is research theme and is taken as the basic clue which is used in series with six topics of Iraq's historical changes,territorial determination,state governance,political practice,national identity construction and inter-ethnic political integration.The first chapter mainly introduces the historical foundation and development stage of modem Iraqi construction.Firstly,we introduce the historical changes and development of Iraq.Secondly,we summarize regime changes in modern Iraq since 1921,which can be regarded as the starting point of the nation-state construction in Iraq,in four stages:the Hashemite dynasty period(1921?1958),the Qassim and Alif regime period(1958?1968),the Baath Party regime period(1968?2003),and the period of post-war reconstruction in Iraq(2003?).The second chapter mainly describes the determination of Iraqi territorial boundaries.This chapter is divided into two parts.Firstly,we explain the relationship between the territorial boundary and the nation-state.The modern nation-state has a distinguishing feature that modern nation-state is established on independent,unity and absolute sovereignty.Therefore,the formation of the modern boundary system is closely related to the nation-state construction.Secondly,we introduce the historical process of territorial boundaries determination of the Iraqi nation-state.The third chapter mainly discusses the state governance in the process of Iraqi national construction.After the First World War,the Iraqi state was established under the auspices of the Great Powers and the League of Nations,which merely brought about a modem political exterior to Iraq.There were many substantial issues to be resolved to form a real modem nation-state.Therefore,the modernization of political system is a long-term task for the Iraq.The fourth chapter mainly analyzes the political practice in the process of Iraqi nation-state building.This chapter divides Iraq's political development into the following categories in accordance with the form of governance:the democratic practice of the Iraqi Hashemite dynasty,the authoritarian rule of Kassem and Arif period,the dictatorship of the Baath Party,America 's Democratic Transformation Strategy after Iraq War,and focuses on the analysis of the challenges in the current political democratization of Iraq.The fifth chapter mainly discusses the problem of national identity in the construction of the Iraqi state.National identity in the process of nation-state building is irreplaceable in the multi-ethnic country.We review the development of national identity in different periods of Iraqi history,and explain the diversity of its national composition and political culture,and analyze different identity construction in the process of nation-state building.Finally,we summarized different identity construction in Pan-Arab nationalist identity,Iraqi nationalist identity(patriotism),Kurdish nationalism and Islamist identity.The sixth chapter mainly elaborates the ethnic political integration in the process of the Iraqi nation-state building.There are complex ethnic relations existing in multi-ethnic country and thus result in variable inter-ethnic politics.Therefore,how to maintain and consolidate multi-ethnic national unity is inevitable problem in nation-state construction.This chapter argues that Iraq has the characteristics of national sectarian diversity and political identity vulnerability.There has been a long history of Shiite resistance and Kurdish separatist movement,which brings with a serious challenge to the ethnic political integration.In short,the nation-state building in Iraq is tortuous and difficult.Iraq has not yet achieved real unity in tihe past 100 years.There have been ethnic separatism and multi-identity dilemma,and trust and support are absence between political parties.Although the war was already end in Iraq 14 years ago,it is a long way to go for reconstructing the country.The incumbent Prime Minister Abadi encounters many urgent tasks,such as fighting against the Islamic State to recover territory controlled by terrorist organizations,resolving sectarian contradictions,promoting political reconciliation,eradicating corruption,and dealing with the interest demands of the Kurds.Therefore,we come to a conclusion that Iraq is unified country on the map,but it is divided in reality.The nation-state building in Iraq is a long and arduous task.