Benjamin Isakhan
Biographic Data
| ID | 159678 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Benjamin Isakhan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Benjamin |
| FAMILY NAME | Isakhan |
| SIGNATURE | ISAKHAN B |
| AFFILIATIONS | Deakin University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5153-7110 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 49 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 200 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 47 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Global heritage governance and women’s everyday (in)security
The deliberate targeting of heritage sites by the Islamic State (IS) prompted significant international legal and normative developments linking cultural heritage to global security. However, little is known about whether these responses resonate with the experiences of those most affected by the destruction. This article contrasts global governance frameworks with local experiences through a Feminist Security Studies (FSS) lens. Drawing on inter…
Unesco’s institutional drift and normative vacuum: Interpreting the failure to protect Palestinian heritage in Gaza
This article analyses UNESCO’s responses to the destruction of much of Gaza’s cultural heritage since the onset of the war in October 2023. Moving beyond portrayals of UNESCO as a norm entrepreneur and exemplar of cultural diplomacy or, alternatively, as an agency mired in politicisation and gridlock, we provide an alternative account by introducing the concepts of ‘institutional drift’ and ‘normative vacuum’. Via an analysis of UNESCO’s handling…
Modelling norm cluster expansion: The case of Unesco’s heritage mandate
Recent scholarship has suggested that when norms are clustered together, they become either more resilient than standalone norms or may collide in practice. However, little attention has been paid to how, and under what conditions, norm clusters can evolve over time. This article addresses this lacuna by proposing a new model of norm cluster expansion. The model captures how clusters can evolve incrementally yet substantively through revising fou…
Gender and cultural violence: Feminist perspectives on Islamic State's heritage destruction
The mass destruction of heritage sites by Islamic State (IS) led to significant advances in the legal and normative frameworks governing global responses to heritage destruction in conflict. However, despite the scale and intensity of these efforts, the overwhelming majority of mandates and resolutions on heritage destruction are gender-blind. By applying a feminist International Relations perspective, we seek to answer the following research que…
Reconstruction across the Middle East: Unesco and the rise of heritage Ingos
The twenty-first century has seen near constant crises and conflicts across the Middle East, many of which have had a devastating impact on the region's rich cultural heritage. Confronted by this reality, UNESCO – the world's foremost body designed to promote the protection of heritage – has struggled to meaningfully address site destruction and has been hamstrung by its own institutional inertia. The vacuum created by UNESCO's failures has given…
Local perspectives on heritage reconstruction after conflict: A public opinion survey of Aleppo
Local perspectives on heritage reconstruction after conflict: a public opinion survey of Aleppo
Heritage Conflict and the Council: The UNSC, Unesco, and the View from Iraq and Syria
Cultural heritage preservation and protection are increasingly tethered to an international security agenda constituted across multilateral agencies. UNESCO and other organizations have securitized heritage, engaging in military training and peacekeeping, international law and prosecution, and cultural property protection. Following the events in Iraq and Syria, UN Security Council resolutions have instantiated norms of heritage violence, risk, a…
Civil society in hybrid regimes? The case of Iraq
The post-Cold War period has seen the emergence of governments across the globe which have hijacked democratic practices such as elections, media freedoms and political opposition as part of their strategy to retain, rather than diffuse, power. Such regimes are referred to as ‘hybrid regimes’ because they blend elements of traditional authoritarian rule with some of the political norms, practices and institutions typically associated with democra…
Deploying destruction: Islamic State, international actors, and public opinion in Mosul
Destruction of cultural heritage has increasingly taken center stage in global debates concerning conflict, crimes against humanity, and cultural genocide. From NATO to the UNSC, international bodies and their respective experts are reconsidering how to understand and combat targeted damage in an emerging terrain, where heritage destruction is being leveraged as a weapon of war. Relatedly, those same organizations, alongside government and non-go…
Rebuilding Mosul: Public opinion on foreign-led heritage reconstruction
Following the devastation of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul by the Islamic State, various foreign actors launched initiatives to reconstruct the heritage sites of the city. However, such efforts are underpinned by assumptions about how local people value their heritage, how they perceive its destruction, whether they view reconstruction as a priority and the extent to which they support foreign-led efforts to rebuild their heritage. This articl…
Civil Society in Hybrid Regimes: Trade Union Activism in Post-2003 Iraq
This article explores the relationship between hybrid regimes and civil society. It examines the extant debate between ‘neo-Tocquevilleans’ and their opponents over whether or not a robust civil society portends democratic transition and consolidation. It demonstrates the limits of these two models by arguing that civil society in hybrid regimes can in fact agitate against the state, advocate for democratic freedoms and achieve significant politi…
The Islamic State, Shia religious clerics and the mobilisation of Shia militias in Iraq and Syria
This article focuses on the Islamic State's (IS) attacks on Shia communities and their holy sites across Iraq and Syria and explores the responses of key Shia religious and political leaders. It demonstrates how these Shia elites utilised sophisticated mobilisation frames to admonish their followers to take up arms against the IS. To do so, these Shia elites drew on Shia religious symbols and historical events that emphasise Shia suffering at the…
The real fourth estate? Portrayals of Trump’s rise in the foreign media of friendly countries
That the news media should operate as an impartial and responsible “fourth estate” in a democracy is a pervasive ideal, but there are serious obstacles – economic, organizational and political – to its achievement in practice. These obstacles, we argue, may be lower when an outlet reports on politics in another country, which is strategically allied to its own. And, for this reason, the quality of news coverage of that country’s politics may be h…
Problematizing norms of heritage and peace: Militia mobilization and violence in Iraq
The destruction of heritage in conflict has emerged as a key challenge to global security and the prospects of peace. In response to the deliberate targeting of heritage sites by the Islamic State (IS) and other actors in recent years, the international community has launched a number of initiatives designed to protect and reconstruct key heritage sites in complex (post-)conflict contexts. However, this article demonstrates that such initiatives …
State‐society relations and inter‐communal dynamics in conflict: Non‐Muslim minorities in post‐IS Iraq
This article examines state‐society relations and inter‐communal dynamics in conflict, focusing on the case study of non‐Muslim minorities in Iraq. It draws on interview data to analyse the lived experiences of Iraq's Yazidis and Christians before, during and after Islamic State (IS) rule. It finds that the attacks by the IS on Iraq's Yazidi and Christian communities not only caused considerable suffering but also led to a renewed crisis of faith…
The Islamic State's Targeting of Christians and their Heritage: Genocide, Displacement and Reconciliation
The rapid advance of the ‘Islamic State’ (IS) across Syria and Iraq from 2013 had devastating consequences for the myriad peoples and heritage sites of the region. However, few studies have documented how those most affected perceive the destruction of their heritage, its complex relationship to their persecution and displacement, and the role they see for reconstruction in fostering peace. This paper addresses this lacuna by analysing interviews…
Unesco, world heritage and the gridlock over Yemen
Since March 2015, the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen has had devastating consequences for the country, its people and its rich cultural heritage. This article traces the responses of the world’s foremost multilateral body concerned with heritage promotion and protection, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Drawing on extensive interviews, archival research and long-term ethnographic research on…
Othering as soft-power discursive practice: China Daily’s construction of Trump’s America in the 2016 presidential election
The relationship between Chinese soft power and Chinese media has been a focus of a growing body of literature. Challenging a resource-based conception of soft power and a transmission view of communication that inform much of the debate, this article adopts a discursive approach to soft power and media communication. It argues that their relationship is not just a matter of resource transmission, but one of discursive construction, which begs th…
"The Islamic State Attacks on Shia Holy Sites and the "Shrine Protection Narrative: Threats to Sacred Space as a Mobilization Frame
After conquering large swaths of Syria and Iraq, the IS undertook an aggressive sectarian campaign in which they not only enacted horrific violence against the Shia people, but also damaged or destroyed several key Shia mosques and shrines. Drawing on Social Movement Theory (SMT), this article analyzes the response by various Shia non-state actors—militia leaders, religious clergymen, populist preachers, and seminal poets. It argues that they use…
Perceptions of democracy and the rise of Donald Trump: A framing analysis of Saudi Arabian media
The 2016 US presidential election, which brought Donald J. Trump to power, raised concerns that his ascendency could undermine US democracy promotion and enable illiberal regimes to resist calls for reform. This article seeks to hold this argument up to empirical scrutiny via a framing analysis of coverage of the US election in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). To some extent, the analysis supports the claim: throughout the election, the KSA med…
State–Media Consensus on Going to War? Australian Newspapers, Political Elites, and Fighting the Islamic State
This article assesses the link between the state and the media in their coverage of foreign policy decisions. It holds up to empirical scrutiny the claim that genuine press criticism can only occur within the bounds of political-elite debate. Taking the Australian government’s 2014 decision to fight the Islamic State as its case study, it explores areas of consensus and dissensus between political discourse and the media. Conducting a qualitative…
The Islamic State’s destruction of Yezidi heritage: Responses, resilience and reconstruction after genocide
After conquering large swathes of northern Iraq, the Islamic State undertook an aggressive genocidal campaign against the Yezidi people in which they not only executed and enslaved thousands of innocent civilians, but also damaged or destroyed several key Yezidi temples and shrines. Drawing on a small sample of in-depth semi-structured interviews with Yezidi men and women from two regions conquered by the Islamic State, this article documents the…
The Abbott government and the Islamic State: A Securitised and Elitist Foreign Policy Discourse
This article analyses the foreign policy discourse that surrounded the Abbott government’s 2014 decision to fight the Islamic State (IS). An analysis of parliamentary Hansard reveals that the debate featured three prominent axes: the legacy of the 2003 Iraq War; the strategies and objectives of the 2014 mission; and Australia’s domestic terror threat level. Throughout, the Abbott government not only marginalised dissenting views, but also justifi…
Unesco's project to 'Revive the Spirit of Mosul: Iraqi and Syrian opinion on heritage reconstruction after the Islamic State
Following the devastation of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul by the Islamic State (IS), UNESCO launched a project to ‘Revive the Spirit of Mosul’. This article critically reflects on this UNESCO-led project, drawing on 47 interviews with Syrians and Iraqis, as well as documenting the implications of UNESCO’s efforts in earlier (post-)conflict heritage reconstruction projects in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Mali. Specifically, this article focuse…
How to Interpret Isis's Heritage Destruction
Far from being senseless acts perpetrated by barbarous savages, ISIS's heritage destruction has been carefully staged and sends clear and deliberate messages
Layers of religious and political iconoclasm under the Islamic State: Symbolic Sectarianism and Pre-Monotheistic Iconoclasm
This article examines the heritage destruction undertaken by the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria. To date, their iconoclasm has been mostly characterised either as acts of wanton barbarism devoid of religious or political justification, or as a cynical performance designed as a mass media spectacle. Drawing on a systematic analysis of two key IS propaganda outlets – their on-line magazine, Dabiq, and the various slick films released by Al-Ha…
Othering as soft-power discursive practice: China Daily’s construction of Trump’s America in the 2016 presidential election
The relationship between Chinese soft power and Chinese media has been a focus of a growing body of literature. Challenging a resource-based conception of soft power and a transmission view of communication that inform much of the debate, this article adopts a discursive approach to soft power and media communication. It argues that their relationship is not just a matter of resource transmission, but one of discursive construction, which begs th…
"The Islamic State Attacks on Shia Holy Sites and the "Shrine Protection Narrative: Threats to Sacred Space as a Mobilization Frame
After conquering large swaths of Syria and Iraq, the IS undertook an aggressive sectarian campaign in which they not only enacted horrific violence against the Shia people, but also damaged or destroyed several key Shia mosques and shrines. Drawing on Social Movement Theory (SMT), this article analyzes the response by various Shia non-state actors—militia leaders, religious clergymen, populist preachers, and seminal poets. It argues that they use…
Unesco's project to 'Revive the Spirit of Mosul: Iraqi and Syrian opinion on heritage reconstruction after the Islamic State
Following the devastation of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul by the Islamic State (IS), UNESCO launched a project to ‘Revive the Spirit of Mosul’. This article critically reflects on this UNESCO-led project, drawing on 47 interviews with Syrians and Iraqis, as well as documenting the implications of UNESCO’s efforts in earlier (post-)conflict heritage reconstruction projects in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Mali. Specifically, this article focuse…
The ritualization of heritage destruction under the Islamic State
This article develops the conceptual framework of the ritualization of heritage destruction to analyse and interpret the targeting of pre-monotheistic heritage sites and artefacts by the Islamic State. It draws upon anthropological studies of initiation rituals in violent male cults alongside literature on heritage destruction to conduct a systematic analysis of key Islamic State propaganda outlets. The analysis reveals that the heritage destruct…
Targeting the Symbolic Dimension of Baathist Iraq: Cultural Destruction, Historical Memory, and National Identity
This article examines the systematic efforts to dismantle or destroy the symbolic dimension of the Baathist regime in Iraq since 2003. It argues that while the Baath were undeniably cruel and oppressive, they did undertake one of the twentieth century's most robust attempts to utilize the political power of historical memory to create a unified Iraqi national identity. However, while many have examined the militaristic or bureaucratic dimensions …
Rebuilding Mosul: Public opinion on foreign-led heritage reconstruction
Following the devastation of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul by the Islamic State, various foreign actors launched initiatives to reconstruct the heritage sites of the city. However, such efforts are underpinned by assumptions about how local people value their heritage, how they perceive its destruction, whether they view reconstruction as a priority and the extent to which they support foreign-led efforts to rebuild their heritage. This articl…
The Islamic State’s destruction of Yezidi heritage: Responses, resilience and reconstruction after genocide
After conquering large swathes of northern Iraq, the Islamic State undertook an aggressive genocidal campaign against the Yezidi people in which they not only executed and enslaved thousands of innocent civilians, but also damaged or destroyed several key Yezidi temples and shrines. Drawing on a small sample of in-depth semi-structured interviews with Yezidi men and women from two regions conquered by the Islamic State, this article documents the…
Problematizing norms of heritage and peace: Militia mobilization and violence in Iraq
The destruction of heritage in conflict has emerged as a key challenge to global security and the prospects of peace. In response to the deliberate targeting of heritage sites by the Islamic State (IS) and other actors in recent years, the international community has launched a number of initiatives designed to protect and reconstruct key heritage sites in complex (post-)conflict contexts. However, this article demonstrates that such initiatives …
Digitally Mediated Iconoclasm: The Islamic State and the war on cultural heritage
This paper puts forward the new analytical framework of ‘Digitally Mediated Iconoclasm’ (DMI) to analyse and interpret iconoclastic acts that are experienced through the propaganda (videos, social media, photographs, and other media) that the actor perpetrating the destruction makes available in global information networks for its consumption, duplication, and distribution. DMI captures three stages of the destruction (before, during and after th…
Basra's Bid for Autonomy: Peaceful Progress toward a Decentralized Iraq
Since the American-led war of 2003, many have called for the breakup of Iraq along ethno-religious or regional lines. Among these proposals, Basra’s nonviolent, civil, and political campaign has come the closest to creating a new autonomous region. This article documents Basra’s bid for decentralization across more than a decade of complex Iraqi politics. It traces the growing popularity of the movement, examining its privileging of economic inte…
Local perspectives on heritage reconstruction after conflict: A public opinion survey of Aleppo
Local perspectives on heritage reconstruction after conflict: a public opinion survey of Aleppo
Unesco, world heritage and the gridlock over Yemen
Since March 2015, the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen has had devastating consequences for the country, its people and its rich cultural heritage. This article traces the responses of the world’s foremost multilateral body concerned with heritage promotion and protection, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Drawing on extensive interviews, archival research and long-term ethnographic research on…
Heritage Conflict and the Council: The UNSC, Unesco, and the View from Iraq and Syria
Cultural heritage preservation and protection are increasingly tethered to an international security agenda constituted across multilateral agencies. UNESCO and other organizations have securitized heritage, engaging in military training and peacekeeping, international law and prosecution, and cultural property protection. Following the events in Iraq and Syria, UN Security Council resolutions have instantiated norms of heritage violence, risk, a…
State–Media Consensus on Going to War? Australian Newspapers, Political Elites, and Fighting the Islamic State
This article assesses the link between the state and the media in their coverage of foreign policy decisions. It holds up to empirical scrutiny the claim that genuine press criticism can only occur within the bounds of political-elite debate. Taking the Australian government’s 2014 decision to fight the Islamic State as its case study, it explores areas of consensus and dissensus between political discourse and the media. Conducting a qualitative…
The Abbott government and the Islamic State: A Securitised and Elitist Foreign Policy Discourse
This article analyses the foreign policy discourse that surrounded the Abbott government’s 2014 decision to fight the Islamic State (IS). An analysis of parliamentary Hansard reveals that the debate featured three prominent axes: the legacy of the 2003 Iraq War; the strategies and objectives of the 2014 mission; and Australia’s domestic terror threat level. Throughout, the Abbott government not only marginalised dissenting views, but also justifi…
The politics of Australia's withdrawal from Iraq
This article examines the complex matrix of public, political and policy debates that were brought to bear on Australia's decision to withdraw from Iraq. In analysing the ‘politics of withdrawal’ in Australia, this article identifies four dominant frames that served to polarise the issue along party-political lines and reduce the complexities of Australia's withdrawal to a set of simple polarities (such as ‘stay the course’ versus ‘responsible wi…
Gender and cultural violence: Feminist perspectives on Islamic State's heritage destruction
The mass destruction of heritage sites by Islamic State (IS) led to significant advances in the legal and normative frameworks governing global responses to heritage destruction in conflict. However, despite the scale and intensity of these efforts, the overwhelming majority of mandates and resolutions on heritage destruction are gender-blind. By applying a feminist International Relations perspective, we seek to answer the following research que…
Civil Society in Hybrid Regimes: Trade Union Activism in Post-2003 Iraq
This article explores the relationship between hybrid regimes and civil society. It examines the extant debate between ‘neo-Tocquevilleans’ and their opponents over whether or not a robust civil society portends democratic transition and consolidation. It demonstrates the limits of these two models by arguing that civil society in hybrid regimes can in fact agitate against the state, advocate for democratic freedoms and achieve significant politi…
Shi’i division over the Iraqi state: Decentralization and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq
This article traces the evolving political platform of one of Iraq’s oldest and most powerful Shi’i political parties, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI). Drawing on an analysis of 15 years of primary materials produced by ISCI, it focuses principally on their promotion of decentralization as a path towards peace and stability in Iraq. However, the article also traces the origins of a deep schism that emerged within ISCI between the movem…
Creating the Iraq cultural property destruction database: Calculating a Heritage Destruction Index
n\t\t\t\t\tOver the past decade there have been constant reports of damage to significant cultural property in several complex (post-)conflict and (post-)revolutionary states. Recent events in Syria, Mali, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Afghanistan and Iraq – as devastating as they have been for people – have also had dramatic consequences for a number of important cultural heritage sites. Despite the severity of these events and global concern, the fiel…
Deploying destruction: Islamic State, international actors, and public opinion in Mosul
Destruction of cultural heritage has increasingly taken center stage in global debates concerning conflict, crimes against humanity, and cultural genocide. From NATO to the UNSC, international bodies and their respective experts are reconsidering how to understand and combat targeted damage in an emerging terrain, where heritage destruction is being leveraged as a weapon of war. Relatedly, those same organizations, alongside government and non-go…
The Islamic State, Shia religious clerics and the mobilisation of Shia militias in Iraq and Syria
This article focuses on the Islamic State's (IS) attacks on Shia communities and their holy sites across Iraq and Syria and explores the responses of key Shia religious and political leaders. It demonstrates how these Shia elites utilised sophisticated mobilisation frames to admonish their followers to take up arms against the IS. To do so, these Shia elites drew on Shia religious symbols and historical events that emphasise Shia suffering at the…
The Manipulation of Social, Cultural and Religious Values in Socially Mediated Terrorism
This paper presents an analysis of how the Islamic State/Da'esh and Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia manipulate conflicting social, cultural and religious values as part of their socially mediated terrorism. It focusses on three case studies: (1) the attacks in Paris, France on 13 November 2015; (2) the destruction of cultural heritage sites in Iraq and Syria; and (3) the struggle between nationalist values and extreme Islamic values in Indonesia. The ca…
Unesco’s institutional drift and normative vacuum: Interpreting the failure to protect Palestinian heritage in Gaza
This article analyses UNESCO’s responses to the destruction of much of Gaza’s cultural heritage since the onset of the war in October 2023. Moving beyond portrayals of UNESCO as a norm entrepreneur and exemplar of cultural diplomacy or, alternatively, as an agency mired in politicisation and gridlock, we provide an alternative account by introducing the concepts of ‘institutional drift’ and ‘normative vacuum’. Via an analysis of UNESCO’s handling…
E ngaging “P rimitive D emocracy ”: M ideast R oots of C ollective G overnance
Secret History of Democracy
What is so ‘Primitive’ about ‘Primitive Democracy’? Comparing the Ancient Middle East and Classical Athens
Among studies of the ancient world and its politics, there is an overwhelming emphasis on the significant achievements of the Greeks. This is, at least in part, because there are records of the administration of their societies and the ‘Athenian Revolution’ might be better understood not so much by what the Athenians did—as most of their activities have at least some precedent—as by what they wrote down. However, of the many texts produced in Gre…
The Secret History of Democracy
This book explores the intriguing idea that there is much more democracy in human history than is generally acknowledged. It establishes that democracy was developing across greater Asia before classi
Targeting the Symbolic Dimension of Baathist Iraq: Cultural Destruction, Historical Memory, and National Identity
This article examines the systematic efforts to dismantle or destroy the symbolic dimension of the Baathist regime in Iraq since 2003. It argues that while the Baath were undeniably cruel and oppressive, they did undertake one of the twentieth century's most robust attempts to utilize the political power of historical memory to create a unified Iraqi national identity. However, while many have examined the militaristic or bureaucratic dimensions …
The Edinburgh Companion to the History of Democracy
Takes a fresh look at the history of democracy, broadening the traditional view with previously unexplored examples This substantial reference work critically re-examines the history of democracy, from ancient history to possible directions it may take in the future. 44 chapters explore the origins of democracy and explore new – and sometimes surprising – examples from around the world. Each of the 9 parts introduces the period, followed by 3 to …
Introduction: The Complex and Contested History of Democracy
n\t\t\t\t\tDemocracy has never been more popular. It is successfully practiced today in a myriad of different ways by people across virtually every cultural, religious or socio-economic context. The forty-five essays collected in this companion suggest that the global popularity of democracy derives in part from its breadth and depth in the common history of human civilization. The chapters include exceptional accounts of democracy in ancient Gre…
Edinburgh Companion to the History of Democracy
Democracy and Crisis
Recent years have seen constant reports on the failures of governance and the crisis of democracy. By examining cases like Global Financial Crisis, the Arab Revolutions and Wikileaks this volume highl
Democratising Governance after the Arab Revolutions: The People, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Governance Networks of Egypt
From late 2010 a series of dramatic and unprecedented events swept across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It began in the quiet Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, where a young street vendor set himself alight in response to the corruption and oppression that surrounded him. Mohamed Bouazizi’s desperate act of self-immolation resonated with a deeply disgruntled population and led to weeks of popular protests across the country. On 14 January …
The politics of Australia's withdrawal from Iraq
This article examines the complex matrix of public, political and policy debates that were brought to bear on Australia's decision to withdraw from Iraq. In analysing the ‘politics of withdrawal’ in Australia, this article identifies four dominant frames that served to polarise the issue along party-political lines and reduce the complexities of Australia's withdrawal to a set of simple polarities (such as ‘stay the course’ versus ‘responsible wi…
Introduction: The Iraq Legacies – Intervention, Occupation, Withdrawal and Beyond
n\t\t\t\t\tThis chapter examines the various and complex legacies of the Iraq War of 2003. In follows the trajectory of these legacies back to the earliest days of the US intervention and examines the extent to which key decisions and errors of judgement on the part ofthe Coalition and the Iraqi political elite have had unexpected and devastating consequences for Iraq today. The chapter documents how the war dramatically altered the lives of ordi…
Conclusion: The Iraq Legacies and the Roots of the ‘Islamic State’
n\t\t\t\t\tWith the deadly ISIS advance, the sudden rousing of Shia militias and the threat of Kurdish secession, Iraq faces a host of deep-seated and intractable problems. Together, these events raise a number of serious questions, not just for Iraq and its future but also for the broader Middle East, the United States and its Coalition partners and the international community. While these challenges and questions will drive much academic debate…
Shattering the Shia: A Maliki Political Strategy in Post-Saddam Iraq
n\t\t\t\t\tThis chapter argues that one key legacy of the US effort to bring democracy to Iraq has been that many elements within Iraq’s Shia Arab political elite have viewed democracy through the lens of a cynical majoritarianism and manipulated it to catapult themselves to power. This has had a further legacy, enabling the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to utilise his incumbency to maintain the veneer of dem…
The De-Baathifi cation of post-2003 Iraq: Purging the Past for Political Power
n\t\t\t\t\tIn addressing the broader de-Baathification question at the intersection between politics and law in post-2003 Iraq this chapter outlines the efforts by Iraqi lawmakers to codify de-Baathification in Iraq’s new constitution of 2005 as well as in subsequent pieces of more detailed legislation. The chapter then goes on to study the actual implementation of these laws in relation to the Iraqi parliamentary elections of 2010 and 2014, as w…
The Legacy of Iraq: From the 2003 War to the 'Islamic State'
Examines the complex and difficult legacies of the Iraq war of 2003 and their critical relevance today In March 2003, a US-led ‘Coalition of the Willing’ launched a pre-emptive intervention against Iraq. Their ambitious project was to turn Iraq into a liberal democracy, underpinned by free-market capitalism, its citizens free to live in peace and prosperity. However, the Iraq war did not go to plan and the coalition were forced to withdraw all co…
Creating the Iraq cultural property destruction database: Calculating a Heritage Destruction Index
n\t\t\t\t\tOver the past decade there have been constant reports of damage to significant cultural property in several complex (post-)conflict and (post-)revolutionary states. Recent events in Syria, Mali, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Afghanistan and Iraq – as devastating as they have been for people – have also had dramatic consequences for a number of important cultural heritage sites. Despite the severity of these events and global concern, the fiel…
The Failures of Neo‐Liberal State Building in Iraq: Assessing Australia's Post‐Conflict Reconstruction and Development Initiatives
This article examines Australia's post‐conflict reconstruction and development initiatives in Iraq following the intervention of 2003. Overall, it finds that Australia privileged the neo‐liberal model of post‐conflict state building by investing in projects that would enhance the capacity of the new Iraqi state, its key institutions and the private sector towards the imposition of a liberal democracy and a free‐market economy. To demonstrate, thi…
How to Interpret Isis's Heritage Destruction
Far from being senseless acts perpetrated by barbarous savages, ISIS's heritage destruction has been carefully staged and sends clear and deliberate messages
Shi’i division over the Iraqi state: Decentralization and the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq
This article traces the evolving political platform of one of Iraq’s oldest and most powerful Shi’i political parties, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI). Drawing on an analysis of 15 years of primary materials produced by ISCI, it focuses principally on their promotion of decentralization as a path towards peace and stability in Iraq. However, the article also traces the origins of a deep schism that emerged within ISCI between the movem…
Basra's Bid for Autonomy: Peaceful Progress toward a Decentralized Iraq
Since the American-led war of 2003, many have called for the breakup of Iraq along ethno-religious or regional lines. Among these proposals, Basra’s nonviolent, civil, and political campaign has come the closest to creating a new autonomous region. This article documents Basra’s bid for decentralization across more than a decade of complex Iraqi politics. It traces the growing popularity of the movement, examining its privileging of economic inte…
Layers of religious and political iconoclasm under the Islamic State: Symbolic Sectarianism and Pre-Monotheistic Iconoclasm
This article examines the heritage destruction undertaken by the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria. To date, their iconoclasm has been mostly characterised either as acts of wanton barbarism devoid of religious or political justification, or as a cynical performance designed as a mass media spectacle. Drawing on a systematic analysis of two key IS propaganda outlets – their on-line magazine, Dabiq, and the various slick films released by Al-Ha…
Digitally Mediated Iconoclasm: The Islamic State and the war on cultural heritage
This paper puts forward the new analytical framework of ‘Digitally Mediated Iconoclasm’ (DMI) to analyse and interpret iconoclastic acts that are experienced through the propaganda (videos, social media, photographs, and other media) that the actor perpetrating the destruction makes available in global information networks for its consumption, duplication, and distribution. DMI captures three stages of the destruction (before, during and after th…
The Manipulation of Social, Cultural and Religious Values in Socially Mediated Terrorism
This paper presents an analysis of how the Islamic State/Da'esh and Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia manipulate conflicting social, cultural and religious values as part of their socially mediated terrorism. It focusses on three case studies: (1) the attacks in Paris, France on 13 November 2015; (2) the destruction of cultural heritage sites in Iraq and Syria; and (3) the struggle between nationalist values and extreme Islamic values in Indonesia. The ca…
The ritualization of heritage destruction under the Islamic State
This article develops the conceptual framework of the ritualization of heritage destruction to analyse and interpret the targeting of pre-monotheistic heritage sites and artefacts by the Islamic State. It draws upon anthropological studies of initiation rituals in violent male cults alongside literature on heritage destruction to conduct a systematic analysis of key Islamic State propaganda outlets. The analysis reveals that the heritage destruct…
Political science (45 works) · Law (37 works) · Politics (31 works) · Sociology (28 works) · History (23 works) · Law (21 works) · Islam (19 works) · Archaeology (17 works) · Political economy (17 works) · Archaeological Research and Protection (15 works)