Ala Hamoudi Haider
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226315348
- eISBN:
- 9780226068794
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226068794.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The most contentious issue at the time of the drafting of the Iraq Constitution concerned the extent of federalism. This chapter demonstrates how the capacious framework constitutional text on ...
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The most contentious issue at the time of the drafting of the Iraq Constitution concerned the extent of federalism. This chapter demonstrates how the capacious framework constitutional text on federalism has been constructed by later political actors in a fashion that is, for the most part, broadly consensual. The solution reached is one of de facto asymmetrical federalism, where one region, Iraqi Kurdistan, enjoys broad autonomy, while others remain in a generally centralized state. The chapter also demonstrates how much of this came about through a significant shift of power among the premier Shi’i political movements, and points to dangers within the text that arise by virtue of particular provisions that have proven too rigid.Less
The most contentious issue at the time of the drafting of the Iraq Constitution concerned the extent of federalism. This chapter demonstrates how the capacious framework constitutional text on federalism has been constructed by later political actors in a fashion that is, for the most part, broadly consensual. The solution reached is one of de facto asymmetrical federalism, where one region, Iraqi Kurdistan, enjoys broad autonomy, while others remain in a generally centralized state. The chapter also demonstrates how much of this came about through a significant shift of power among the premier Shi’i political movements, and points to dangers within the text that arise by virtue of particular provisions that have proven too rigid.
Kevin M. Jones
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781503613393
- eISBN:
- 9781503613874
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9781503613393.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
Poetry has long dominated the cultural landscape of modern Iraq, simultaneously representing the literary pinnacle of high culture and giving voice to the popular discourses of mass culture. As the ...
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Poetry has long dominated the cultural landscape of modern Iraq, simultaneously representing the literary pinnacle of high culture and giving voice to the popular discourses of mass culture. As the favored genre of culture expression for religious clerics, nationalist politicians, leftist dissidents, and avant-garde intellectuals, poetry critically shaped the social, political, and cultural debates that consumed the Iraqi public sphere in the twentieth century. The popularity of poetry in modern Iraq, however, made it a dangerous practice that carried serious political consequences and grave risks to dissident poets.
The Dangers of Poetry is the first book to narrate the social history of poetry in the modern Middle East. Moving beyond the analysis of poems as literary and intellectual texts, Kevin Jones shows how poems functioned as social acts that critically shaped the cultural politics of revolutionary Iraq. He narrates the history of three generations of Iraqi poets who navigated the fraught relationship between culture and politics in pursuit of their own ambitions and agendas. Through this historical analysis of thousands of poems published in newspapers, recited in popular demonstrations, and disseminated in secret whispers, this book reveals the overlooked contribution of these poets to the spirit of rebellion in modern Iraq.Less
Poetry has long dominated the cultural landscape of modern Iraq, simultaneously representing the literary pinnacle of high culture and giving voice to the popular discourses of mass culture. As the favored genre of culture expression for religious clerics, nationalist politicians, leftist dissidents, and avant-garde intellectuals, poetry critically shaped the social, political, and cultural debates that consumed the Iraqi public sphere in the twentieth century. The popularity of poetry in modern Iraq, however, made it a dangerous practice that carried serious political consequences and grave risks to dissident poets.
The Dangers of Poetry is the first book to narrate the social history of poetry in the modern Middle East. Moving beyond the analysis of poems as literary and intellectual texts, Kevin Jones shows how poems functioned as social acts that critically shaped the cultural politics of revolutionary Iraq. He narrates the history of three generations of Iraqi poets who navigated the fraught relationship between culture and politics in pursuit of their own ambitions and agendas. Through this historical analysis of thousands of poems published in newspapers, recited in popular demonstrations, and disseminated in secret whispers, this book reveals the overlooked contribution of these poets to the spirit of rebellion in modern Iraq.
