The Kurds of Iraq : building a state within a state / Ofra Bengio.

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Library Journal Review

An integral part of Iraqi society, the Kurds have played a crucial role in modern Iraq's tumultuous politics. Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait ushered in a series of events leading to the creation of a safe haven for Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan. This was followed by the establishment of a de facto semiautonomous entity in northern Iraq that gave the Kurds breathing room to develop state institutions outside the control of the Iraqi state. Since the 2003 overthrow of the Baathist regime, the process of building a "state within a state" has accelerated in Iraqi Kurdistan under the control of the Kurdish Regional Government. In this meticulously researched and highly informed book, Israeli scholar Bengio (Middle East studies, Tel Aviv Univ.; The Turkish-Israeli Relationship: Changing Ties of Middle Eastern Outsiders) traces the evolution of Kurdish identity in Iraq over the past 50 years. She painstakingly analyzes the complexities of Kurdish politics and examines the increasingly important role of the Kurds in the evolving geostrategic map of today's Middle East. VERDICT This is the most up-to-date and detailed account of Iraqi Kurdish politics available in English. It is a valuable source for scholars and serious students of contemporary Iraq and Kurdistan.-Nader Entessar, Univ. of South Alabama, Mobile (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

Bengio's study is the only book this reviewer knows of that fully analyzes the history of Kurds in Iraq under the Baath Party from 1968 to the US invasion in 2003. There are two other excellent studies: The Modern History of Iraq (CH, Apr'12, 49-4639), by Phebe Marr, and A History of Iraq (2007), by Charles Tripp, but neither focuses on the Kurds. Bengio (Tel Aviv Univ., Israel), well known for her studies on the Baath Party and Iraq, does focus on the Kurds, embedding her study within the context of the Kurds' relations with Turkey, Iran, and Syria and the history and politics of their relations with the Kurdish peoples of those states. Bengio's knowledge of Arabic and Turkish sources allows her to analyze the history of Iraq's Kurds within all four states. She devotes the last 47 pages to an analysis of the post-2003 history of Iraq and developments in the Kurdistan Regional Government. She characterizes this period as "The Great Leap Forward," emphasizing that Kurds' achievements during this period resulted in their achieving a quasi-independent state and that the Kurds of Iraq have arrived at a " more mature enthnonationalism" strongly influencing developments among Kurds in Turkey and Syria. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate, research, and professional collections. R. W. Olson University of Kentucky