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CMES presents a symposium
Iraq: Possible Futures - Including a return to the past
Since its creation out of the three Ottoman Provinces - Basra, Baghdad and Mosul - after 1914, Iraq has been occupied several times, battled with Kurdish separatism, subject to a number of political revolutions, endured the long dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and several wars or periods of great tension with its Eastern neighbor, Iran. Not to speak of huge annual floods, uncertain title to land and now, paradoxically, low oil prices, heightened by sectarianism exacerbated by the Islamic State movement (ISIS), and a severe shortage of electricity and water. Inter alia this has given it a very different political history than that of its closest Arab neighbor, Syria.
What now? The aim of this one-day symposium will be to discuss a range of future political and economic possibilities including a return to new versions such past political and constitutional arrangements as those of 1925, 1958, 2005, etc.
Organized by Professor Roger Owen, A. J. Meyer Professor of Middle East History, Emeritus, and Dr.Muhamed H. Almaliky, WCFIA Associate; Physician, University of Pennsylvania Health System; Director, Iraqi American Institute
Speakers will include:
Orit Bashkin, University of Chicago
Eric Davis, Rutgers University
Kanan Makiya, Brandeis University
A. Richard Norton, Boston University
Joseph Sassoon, Georgetown University
Sami Zubaida, University of London
Contact: Liz Flanagan