From Recognition to Redistribution? Protest Movements in Iraq in the Age of 'New Civil Society'. Issue 4 (8th August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ali, Zahra
• Is Part Of: Journal of intervention and statebuilding. Volume 15:Issue 4(2021)
• Page Start: 528
• Page End: 542
• Publication Date: 2021-08-08
• Subjects: Iraq -- civil society -- protests -- social movement -- Tahrir Square -- feminism; Intervention (International law) -- Periodicals; Nation-building -- Periodicals; Economic assistance -- Periodicals; Postwar reconstruction -- Periodicals; International cooperation -- Periodicals; 320
• DOI: 10.1080/17502977.2021.1886794
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1750-2977

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Based on in-depth fieldwork, this article explores protest movements in Iraq drawing on theorizations on NGOization, civil society and social movements. I situate the protests within the country's social, political and economic contexts. Then, I look at women and youth's involvement showing the importance to consider the traumatic experience of sectarian and political violence to understand their organizing and demands. I argue that Iraqis have experienced the collapse of a strong authoritarian welfare centralized state, a process that started in the 1990s and was accelerated by the 2003 US invasion. Thus, instead of neoliberal politics, the country has experienced 'shock doctrines' with aggressive privatizations coupled with exacerbated militarization.