An Analysis of the Patterns of Policymaking in Iraq’s National Security During the Period of the Ba’ath Party’s Rule

Abstract

Relying on its partisan principles and values, the Ba’athist regime– the period when Saddam Hussein was in charge in Iraq– sought a powerful government. Not respecting and believing in ethnical and sectarian differences and seeking the realization of national unity, Saddam tried to regulate security policies in a way in which he could assimilate the differing Iraqi society, using the policies of carrot and stick. This project was consisted of two fundamental pillars: (1) positive or carrot assimilation policies; and (2) negative or stick assimilation policies. This article discusses the way in which Saddam’s unifying principles were implemented in Iraq during the Ba’athist regime. The research method of the article is qualitative and the data are gathered from various documents and interviews with former and current Iraqi government officials. The questions this paper seeks to answer are: (1) What were the patterns of policymaking in Iraq’s national security during the period of the Ba’ath Party’s rule? and, (2) Did those patterns help Iraq’s national unity and solidarity? The article concludes that because of the specific characteristics of these policies, and considering the sociological, cultural, and historical principles of Iraq, assimilation policies during the Ba’ath Party’s rule caused numerous ethnical and sectarian cracks and consequently gave birth to discordant and disharmonious groups in the society.