Iraq’s Rhizomatic State and the Politics of Impunity

The results from the Polish parliamentary elections in 2015 showed a significant change in the behaviour of the electorate. Two completely new political groups have entered the Sejm. For the very first time in the history of the Third Polish Republic, a new balance of power emerged, which excluded the left-wing parties from political discourse without assigning them a parliamentary mandate [Dudek 2016: 687]. In the face of this turn of events, it is difficult to maintain the thesis concerning the freezing of the circulation of political elites in the current political system. The Modern political party was established on 31 May 2015 [Kim jesteśmy?] while the Kukiz'15 political movement formed only three months before the parliamentary elections [O stowarzyszeniu – wladze krajowe i okregowe]. These two political organisations were able to overcome the electoral threshold and achieve unexpected success in such a short period of time and without an extensive party structure or significant financial base. The mobilisation of the electorate took place outside the parliamentary structures. In view of this, is the phenomenon of 'over-parlamentisation' [Żukiewicz 2011: 343] involved in the creation of political leaders still valid? Is it to be believed, that in the face of ever more frequent grassroots social initiatives, the real political struggle still only takes place within the parties and political leaders who are not traditional participants of political party games but who appear as activists associated with other areas of public life? On the other hand, the changes that take place in the electorate do not directly translate into the reorganisation of party structures. The tendency to block political advancement by the already established political elite still persists. Traditional political parties are afraid of this new situation, which can significantly harm their interests. Impeding these changes may seem to be an obvious reaction, inscribed in the rules of political struggle [Żukiewicz 2011: 345]. However, the constant increase in tension between the demands and expectations of the electorate and the offer of these parties may indicate that the current balance of power will not last for long. Upcoming transformations cannot be avoided however attempts should be made to control them. For this reason, leaders of traditional political parties should decide on utilising such a mechanism for selecting leaders as it would not exclude them from the political space while at the same time be a guarantor of power. Being part of the 21st century, we have all witnessed and participated in the intensification of globalisation processes as well as the generational change and the popularisation of ideas related to the information society. The significant increase in the importance of the phenomenon of mediatisation of politics causes a reversal of the hierarchy of attributes and predispositions which are desired by society [Schulz 2004: 87-101]. The image of political leaders on social media begins to outweigh their actual leadership skills. There is a danger that the new mechanism responsible for creating party structures will indeed facilitate the circulation of the elite, but unfortunately at the expense of the quality of potential leaders. That is why it is so important that the transformation process of the political power system proceeds as designed, and not in a chaotic manner, succumbing to bottom-up trends. In addition, external factors of an international nature make it difficult to conduct research on the latest political phenomena. The changes currently occurring in society require new research perspectives and approaches. Traditional theories concerning the political system and the understanding of party structure may turn out to be insufficient.

International Social Security ReviewVolume 42, Issue 2 p. 203-209 Social security in Iraq Sadoon Abbas Jabber, Sadoon Abbas Jabber Director, Planning and Follow-up Section. Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Republic of Iraq)Search for more papers by this author Sadoon Abbas Jabber, Sadoon Abbas Jabber Director, Planning and Follow-up Section. Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Republic of Iraq)Search for more papers by this author First published: April 1989 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-246X.1989.tb00245.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume42, Issue2April 1989Pages 203-209 RelatedInformation

Iraqi state and intelligence documents seized from the North of Iraq in 1991, provided one of the first insights into the mindset and the discourse of Iraq's security apparatus. This mindset can be characterized by a justification of brutal human rights abuses against Kurds in the name of Arab and Iraqi nationalism and euphemistic terms employed to sanitize these actions. Examining such documents not only reveal the thinking of Iraq's security organizations, but also Saddam Hussein himself.

The concept of social security has turned into a dream that everyone seeks in most parts of the world, such as the countries of the Middle East, especially Iraq. Due to successive wars and the collapse of political systems one after another, this led to instability, and the concept of social security became a question that everyone tries to answer and search for ways to reach. Therefore, in this research, I studied the concept of social security, its origins and development in the West, as well as the emergence of the concept and how to address it in Islamic countries, and focused on the concept of social security in Iraq. The concept of social security and its related notions to the status of women in Middle Eastern countries were also studied. The comparative analytical method was used to study this concept. The results revealed that the concept of social security has developed significantly to include numerous dimensions and is applied in various fields. The concept has also developed from simply searching for security and safety to laws that are applied in social security.

This research analyzes some indicators of fiscal policy, specifically focusing on public expenditure, government revenue, and the general budget balance. It also examines certain indicators of economic security, including the average GDP per capita, agricultural GDP, and non-oil GDP, in an attempt to measure the extent of influence and the role that these policies could play in achieving economic security during the years 2004 to 2021, particularly after the establishment of the political system in Iraq.Through study, analysis, and the use of quantitative methods in processing, the research reveals a disparity between the trajectories and orientations of fiscal policy and the achievement of economic security in Iraq. Fiscal policy has often been centered on the reliance on a single quarterly resource, namely oil revenues, resulting in the economy's persistent dependency and vulnerability to fluctuations in the global economy. This situation has had negative or positive implications for the living standards of Iraqi citizens

THE purpose of this article is to analyze in a preliminary way some of the basic sociological problems of bureaucratic political systems—legitimation, autonomy, and political struggle. For reasons which will be specified later—not least among them, reasons of space—we shall limit our discussion to pre-modern, historical societies, such as the ancient empires (especially the Egyptian), the Byzantine, Chinese, and Ottoman Empires, and some of the European countries in the age of absolutism. By way of introduction, we shall endeavor to discern some common characteristics in all these political systems, and the main differences among them; and then inquire into some of the sociological conditions that are related to both the common features and the chief differences.

This chapter examines some of the issues involved in the attempt by the Ba'th to effect changes in women's roles and status. In common with other Third World countries Iraq shares the challenge of modernising its economic, political and social systems. In the political sphere, the regime's stated task is to develop an effective state apparatus and nationwide institutions with integrative functions. The Arab Ba'th Socialist Party, which came to power in Iraq in 1968, has articulated a vision of a future society 'free from the old, obsolete, and exploitative relationships that held the peasant, the tribesman and the woman prisoner in their own society'. The statement is fairly straightforward; the party takes it upon itself to liberate the woman from all bonds, economic, social and legal. The political report, however, does not spell out the nature of these bonds nor how the party intends to go about effecting this process of liberation.

With the desperate usurpation of global spaces under the ever-expanding capitalist mode of production, the political struggle still necessitates an emancipatory class politics as aimed by Marx and Engels. This paper will be a synthesis of Marxist geographer David Harvey’s theory of capitalist production of space and Marx-Engels’ notion of freedom, and their notion of emancipatory class politics. According to David Harvey, its survival as a system is through its wide scale control on the production of spaces. I will first expose the theory of the Marxist geographer David Harvey on how capitalism produces a space through his theory of the capitalist production of space. This necessary strategy of capitalism to own and extend to spaces is essential to its nature to increase capital and profit. According to him, capitalism always needs to expand territories to create new sources of labor, wealth, and new markets. This necessitates obtaining profits to sustain capital accumulation amidst its problem of crises. The spatial ontology of capital will be the springboard showing a possible construction of the type of freedom or emancipation that is necessary in forwarding a class politics of spatiality. In effect, emancipating the place is tied with the classical notion of the liberation of the proletariat. I conceptualize the concept of place as a signifier of the spaces that humanity produces—may it be their home, their work, or geometries of modern life—but have been put under the dictates and design of capital. Thus, I will go back to the classical notion of emancipatory politics of Marx and Engels. This synthesis combines the possibility of emancipatory class politics based on the ontology of the present capitalist production of space.

Although the two political systems cannot be equated, the psychiatric and psychosocial issues raised by people detained under the migration regulations of the present Australian government, and those detained under the security legislation of the last apartheid government in South Africa, are similar in many aspects. We present two case scenarios representative of the cumulative clinical experience of the authors in their work (as part of their routine clinical practice and medical school experience) with asylum seekers and political detainees in acute psychiatric units in both South Africa and Australia. Similar issues raised included the validity of a psychiatric diagnosis in these patients and the debate this conundrum provoked among the multidisciplinary teams. The pressures placed on clinicians by politicians in terms of clinical management of hospitalized detainees raised similar ethical questions across both countries. The clinical syndromes of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder were similar. The effect of the 'non-person' status conferred upon refugees by the 'temporary protection visa' could be equated with the effect of 'banning orders' imposed on opponents of the Apartheid regime. In South Africa, political detainees entered into the struggle expecting to face hardship and torture at the hands of the government of the time. Asylum seekers flee to Australia expecting support from a democratic system and generally had not prepared themselves for further incarceration and yet another political struggle. Despite this seemingly fundamental difference, the experiences of detainees across two very different political systems are remarkably similar.

With his original reading of the French Revolution Etienne Balibar established a notion of politics in which theoretical refection and political practice are irreducibly interwoven. Contrary to liberal and republican interpretations of these events he claims that one can neither derive material rights nor rules of political processes from the basic concepts of the revolution; instead he sees their main characteristic in their resistance to fnal interpretation. Rather than prescribing a certain social or political system, their contested openness gives occasion to or even forces a political society into a process of self-questioning by constantly reapplying those main concepts to political practices. In my essay I will present Balibar’s complex interpretation of the French Revolution as starting point of this open process as well as his own proposal for its future development. I will claim that his own proposal contradicts some of his central assumptions about the French Revolution so that certain problems of his notion of politics will manifest itself in retrospect.

Мета статті. Дослідити наукові праці американського ученого Р. Конквеста, його фактологічні пріоритети і концептуальні підходи висвітлення радянської соціально-політичної історії 1920-х рр., тлумачення ним її періодизації, порівнюючи з радянською історіографією. Методологію дослідження становлять класичні методи історичних досліджень (хронологічний, порівняльний, історіографічного аналізу, наукової аналогії). Застосовано комбінований підхід, який поєднує наявність історичного контексту з його критичним історіографічним тлумаченням. Уперше об’єктом комплексного дослідження є науковий доробок історика Р. Конквеста, автора відомих праць – «Великий терор» і «Жнива скорботи», що і зумовлює певною мірою наукову новизну. Інтелектуальну діяльність ученого пов’язують переважно з вивченням проблем Голодомору. Однак поза увагою опинилися його оригінальні інтерпретації суспільно-політичних подій в Україні 1917–1929 рр., становлення і функціонування радянської системи влади, ролі і місця її еліт, тлумачення епохи Непу, масового голоду 1921–1923 рр. Періодизація радянської політичної історії, яку застосував Р. Конквест, розглядається нами в історіографічному ключі. Важливо виділити його наукові інтерпретації подій і явищ, підкреслити авторську концепцію, з’ясувати відмінності у порівнянні з радянською історіографією. Такий підхід видається нам інноваційним. Висновки. Зазначено, що періодизація Р. Конквестом соціально-політичних процесів у 1920-х рр. мала цифрову (класичне датування подій) і суто інтерпретаційну (авторське тлумачення явищ і процесів). Його наукові оцінки воєнного комунізму, Непу, політичної боротьби у ВКП(б) за лідерство і владу – історично достовірні та аргументовані. Ключові хронологічні періоди (1917–1921, 1921–1927, 1928–1929), які названо ученим, логічно та історично взаємопов’язані. Оригінальною та інноваційною є періодизація більшовицької окупації України, сама постановка проблеми та її висвітлення. Радянолог, політолог та історик Р. Конквест відмовився від періодизації соціально-політичної історії 20-х рр., канонізованої радянською історіографією.

By providing the conceptual framework for the contributions to this Special Issue, this article argues that impunity as an omnipresent reality in Iraq can be better understood through the twin concepts: impunity state and impunity politics. It defines impunity state as a sphere of radical security and exception from punishment, for which elite players strive, while creating insecurity for non-elite Iraqis. This state is sustained by impunity politics, i.e. the informal bargaining, negotiation, competition, and violence of elite actors to achieve and maintain impunity. The article draws on Walter Benjamin’s ideas and recent advances in Critical Security Studies to show how impunity functions on a foundational level and destabilizes Eurocentric understandings of state and sovereignty in Iraq. It demonstrates how the US imposed impunity on Iraq after the invasion in the long 2003. Lastly, it highlights how each article contributes to central theme of this Special Issue.

This thesis examines the role of women’s civil society participation in building peace and security in Iraq. It combines feminist political economy analysis and a ‘politics of scale’ approach to explore the contexts of women’s participation. Since 2003 Iraqi women have mobilised in response to heightened levels of violence and new opportunities for participation. Drawing on interviews and primary documents to analyse women’s advocacy, the thesis argues that Iraqi women are strategic agents rather than passive recipients of international frameworks and funding. Women’s civil society participation has been crucial for addressing women's insecurity in local, national and global sites.

Letters of Guarantee are one of the most important banking methods because of their role in internal and external commercial transactions as one of the most important instruments of banking confidence because they have advantages that are not available in other warranties. Despite the importance of the letters of guarantee, it is noticeable that there are many legal issues surrounding the practical and practical aspects of this type of guarantee in Iraq because of the multiplicity of legal relations that arise on its occasion. The study included a description of these problems regarding the issuance and validity of the letter of guarantee, the purpose of its issuance, its duration and extension, and the fulfilment of its value to the beneficiary, through the analysis of legal texts, judicial decisions and relevant jurisprudence. Among the findings we have reached through the study, the practical reality has proved to be problematic in the application of some provisions of the Iraqi Trade law regarding letters of guarantee, including: the beneficiary finds himself bewildered when submitting the claim to the legal entity, in two cases, the first one, Letters issued in a branch are subsequently closed. The second is the letters issued in a branch but the extension of their duration is in the

This article focuses on Kurdish security question in Iraq from 2003 to the present. Its central argument is that the security of the Kurdish region of Iraq has only constitutionally de-securitised since 2003. However, the Kurdish security demands in Iraq have been politicized by the different Iraqi governments since 2005, and therefore, security relations between the Iraqi state and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have been fraught with distrust, tensions, and chaos since that time. The concepts derived from the Copenhagen School (CS) provide the framework for discussing security relations and the inherent security struggles between the Iraqi state and the KRG.