focus on: baath power in syria & iraq islamic revolution in iran (& theories of revolution)...

Focus on:• Ba’ath power in Syria & Iraq• Islamic Revolution in Iran (&

theories of revolution)

• Iran-Iraq War

Next time: ‘The Peace Process’

The 1970s-90s

Ba’ath Power in Syria & Iraq

• competition for regional dominance

• Similarities – rural advancement, authoritarian, use of military and Ba’ath party, absolute power and personality cult, socialist economic policies• RURAL ORIGINS OVER URBAN POLITICIANS & MERCHANTS

• Ibn Khaldun – badu/hadar. • “town” versus “desert” dichotomy.

• Ba’ath Party Motto (Unity, Freedom, Socialism)

SYRIA• Regime and

consolidation of power in “Corrective Movement”• Previous Ba’ath too

adventurous (Black September)

• Domestic Politics • 1973 constitution

• Muslim President?• State-led reforms

• Regional Influence from 1973 War

• Internal Challenge• Primarily Sunni

• Islamic Front• Foreign Policy (Lebanon, Iran-

Iraq War)• Domestic Policy (Rural

privilege, corruption & repression)

Hafiz Al-Asad

SYRIA in LEBANON – a “special relationship”

• Ta’if Agreement (1989)• Attempt to end civil war and bring about national

reconciliation – out of two governments, one?• Remember National Pact and demographic issues• Equal #’s of Parliament & Cabinet seats among

Christians and Muslims• Many presidential powers Prime Minister• Disarmament & disbanding militias to be

facilitated by Syrian assistance

• The Rebellion of Michel Aoun (1989-90)• War of liberation against the Syrians

Islamic Revolution in Iran• Precedents• White Revolution and its effects• Modern capitulations (oil)• Revolution is:• the collapse of one political order and its replacement by another

• “rapid, basic transformations of society’s state and class structures, and of its dominant ideology… carried through, in part, by class-based upheavals from below.” (Skocpol)

REVIEW: White Revolution (started in 1963)

Top-down, bloodlessMajor social, economic, and political reforms

ON ONE HAND: Land reform granting private ownership, increased educational support and access, greater secularization, women’s enfranchisement, social welfare, subsidies for industrial growth

THE OTHER HAND: Maintain majorly corrupt regime with uneven distribution of income and widespread political repression

Opposition by religious establishment in the mid 1970s

Land reform included land taken from religious leaders and hurt their economic interests

Positive impacts, but very selectiveResented by religious leaders

What happened?

• We already know about MRS takes throne (1941); CIA overthrow of Mossadeq (1953); MRS back on throne; White Revolution (1962)

• Ulema and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

• Early to mid 1970s• Guerrilla Fighting, economic downturn, Carter, Khomeini propaganda

• Revolutionary Demands• Abolish SAVAK• New elections for Majlis• Immediate transition to Constitutional ‘Limited’ Monarchy (mostly symbolic institution)

• 1978 - stakes get higher

• Events of 1979

Inverse Relationship between POPULAR RESISTANCE…

… and LEGITIMATE CLAIM TO AUTHORITY (legitimacy)

Revolutions

• Rational Theories• actions of large groups or organizations must be reducible to actions of individuals• collective action problem (tendency to free-ride)

• Structural Theories• “Revolutions aren’t made. They come.”• Structural conditions facilitate revolution

• Social Mobilization Theories• Agency

• Importance of Khomeini as mobilizing force (charismatic leader)

• Culture & Ideology

"Familiarize the people with the truth of Islam so that the young generation may not think that the men of religion in the mosques of Qum and al-Najaf believe in the separation of church from state, that they study nothing other than menstruation and childbirth and that they have nothing to do with politics."

-Ayatollah Khomeini

“The Purpose of our lives is never to cease thestruggle. We are like waves—our calmness is in ourfading away”

-A slogan of Iranian college students in the 1970s

IRAQ• Husayn• Domestic Issues

• ethnic and sectarian antagonism

• Role of oil in consolidation of power

• Foreign policy

Iran-Iraq War

Politics of Culture in IRAQ

Cultural Wholes versus the Cultural ArenaCultural arena can be broken down into two

perspectives – structure and agency.Culture as a system of symbols and

meaningsSymbols

Culture as practiceTool Kit

The goal is HEGEMONY

Flag of 1958 Revolution

Iraqi Flag 1959 – 1963 under Qasim

Nisb el-Hurriya (Freedom Monument)

Iraqi Flag under Ba’ath Rule1968 – 1991

Iraqi Flag under Ba’ath Rule1991 - 2003

Project for the Rewriting of History under Ba’th Party

Goes beyond simple political indoctrination

Sought to negate Iraqist nationalism’s inclusive legacy and build a “new Iraqi man and Society”

• Reject or ignore existing power relations (tribalism, sectarianism, social class)• Get rid of Iraqist nationalist legacy from historical record• Strictly limit religion to the private sphere• Develop new Iraq-centered concept of Pan-Arabism

Ideological Contradiction • Could not adopt exclusive Pan-Arabism (alienation of Kurds, Shi’is, communists)• Could not embrace Iraqist nationalism (negated Pan-Arabism)

Shu’ubiya Controversy and the Iran-Iraq War

Shu’ubiya Controversy and the Iran-Iraq War

Arabized Persian Shi’a (core of ‘Abbasid bureaucracy, worked to undermine empire

from within and caused its downfall)

Message to Sunni minority – Shi’a are untrustworthy

Message to Shi’a – enjoying benefits of the state required renunciation of cultural

heritage

Monument of the Unknown Unknown Soldier

Hands of Victory (Swords of Qadisiyah)

Shatt al-Arab Martyr’s Monument

Iran – Iraq War (1980-88)Arab-Persian frontierKurdish Rebellion in Northern Iraq

Iran’s open borders violating 1975 Algiers Agreement

Khomeini’s call for overthrow of Saddam’s regimeIslamism vs. Secular Nationalism

Saddam strategy to strike early before new government could consolidate its power

Outside sources of support