Overview

Never has the old line about those who fail to understand the past being condemned to repeat it seemed more urgently relevant than in Iraq today, with potentially catastrophic consequences for the Iraqi people, the Middle East region, and the world. Examining the construction of the modern state of Iraq under the auspices of the British empire - the first attempt by a Western power to remake Mesopotamia in its own image - renowned Iraq expert Toby Dodge uncovers a series of shocking parallels between the policies of a declining British empire and those of Coalition forces in Iraq since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Dodge shows that the state created by the British held all the seeds of a violent, corrupt, and relentlessly oppressive future for the Iraqi people, one that has continued to unfold. Like the British empire eight decades before, the United States and Britain took upon themselves today the grand task of transforming Iraq and, by extension, the political landscape of the Middle East.

Full Product Details

9781849040686

Table of Contents

Reviews

'a superb recent book on the mandate.'- Time 'A very good piece of work in every respect: extensive research, familiarity and mastery of the secondary literature, well organised and lucid, conceptually sophisticated, with theoretical themes woven into the fabric of the substantive analysis.' - Sami Zubeida, Birkbeck College, University of London 'This fine, lucid book is absolutely essential reading for anyone desiring to understand how profoundly history shapes the current disastrous situation in Iraq, and it shows how terrible is the price for ignoring it.' - Professor Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University

Author Information

TOBY DODGE is Reader in Politics at Queen Mary, University of London, where he specialises in Middle East politics and the evolution of the postcolonial state.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available