Content area
Full Text
Iraq: People, History, Politics. By GARETH STANSFIELD Cambridge: Polity, 2007, 262 pp. £15.99 ISBN 978 07456 3227 8
This book is a political history of the Iraqi state from its creation under the British mandate to the post-invasion period. Its main objective is to begin to explain why post-Saddam Iraq has been marked by religious, ethnic and tribal divisions rather than secular nationalism or class-based identities. Stansfield begins with a brief overview of the historical civilisations and empires that preceded the modern state. The six subsequent chapters are presented chronologically, each focusing on a major theme: state formation, political mobilisation, authority, war, isolation and regime change. Throughout, the...