Identity and nation in Iraq / Sherko Kirmanj.

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CHOICE Review

This well-argued and timely book focuses on the failure of nation building in Iraq, a project that began in 1918 when the British colonial administration carved a nation-state out of the disintegrating Ottoman Empire. The arbitrary borders of the newly minted Iraqi state enclosed a mosaic of ethnic and religiously distinct groups, the largest of which were the Kurds and the Sunni and Shi'a Arabs. The author, a Kurd, provides a critical assessment of the historical role the state and the cultural elite played in relation to what he terms "the politics of identity." Kirmanj (Univ. of South Australia) attributes the perennial political instability, the civil clashes, and the failure of state formation to the inherent ethnic and religious divisions among the Kurds, Sunnis, and Shiites. Rejecting alternative explanations, the author's thesis is that "the failure of national integration in Iraq is a direct result of the clash of identities and competing nationalisms, be they ethnic, secular or religious." The different chapters are devoted to exploring major historical causes for the continuing conflict of religious and ethnic identities and the ensuing failure to achieve national integration. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. A. Rassam emerita, CUNY Queens College