Arthur Néron-Bancel
Intra-group and center-periphery competition, and the logics of power consolidation in Iraq post-2003
This essay explores the logics and strategies of power that have shaped the interactions between competing Shi’a Muslim political actors in Iraq since 2003. More specifically, our analysis tries to shed light on Maliki’s attempts to extend his growing power in Baghdad outward to the country’s Shi’a-dominated southern regions.
By approaching this dimension of Iraqi politics from the specific angle of Maliki’s attempts to consolidate his control over the Iraqi state, we try to show that Maliki’s strategies reflect the critical importance of both intra-group and center-periphery power struggles in processes of elite bargaining that drive state-building.
Furthermore, the objective is to show that in Iraq the evolution of these complex processes of political competition has been shaped by a framework of opportunities and constraints determined primarily by four factors:
1) the nature of political elites,
2) the specific historical, socio-cultural and economic context of Iraq,
3) the formal legal and institutional framework established by the state-building process, and
4) the role and influence of international actors.
Professor: Dipali Mukhopadhyay
Date: May 2014
Words: 11,300
The Divided State in theory & in practice
This essay addresses the challenges of designing or reconstructing governance structures, institutions, or legal frameworks in 'divided societies'.
Whether ‘modernizing’, post-colonial or post-conflict, many countries suffer from protracted or recurring political instability and conflict. These countries are often labeled as ‘divided societies’, primarily due to the fact that their chronic instability stems from struggles between social groups who compete on the basis of ‘traditional’ or ‘primordial’ identities. The comparison is often made with ‘Western’ or ‘modern’ systems where “most citizens associate themselves with the identity of the state itself, rather than with any ethnic, linguistic, or religious group.”
This essay explores theories of social and political change that suggest that an initially deeply divided society does not in any way preclude the establishment of a stable and inclusive political system. However, we also see that the transition requires a very significant shift in power structures, as the elites that have relied on identity-based social structures to sustain a well-established political order need to be gradually disconnected from the political sphere in favor of civil state institutions that should serve all citizens indiscriminately (in an ideal world, or as long as the state hasn’t been captured by a new elite or coalition of elites.)
Achieving this transition requires a very well designed and evolving set of governance structures and institutions intended to incentivize elite cooperation and social integration – but it also requires guidance and targeted, de-politicized interventions by external actors, and, most of all, a lot of time, patience, perseverance, and willingness to accept imperfect equilibriums as necessary steps in a long, long process.
Professor: Dipali Mukhopadhyay
Date: April 2014
Words: 5,150
The role of social mobilization and institution building
Bearing in mind the contradiction between the ubiquity of this so-called ‘Islamic’ resistance and the heterogeneity of its constituent elements, the following paper will narrow in on one specific case study in an attempt to explore the role that Islamic ideas and structures can play in achieving systemic change. More precisely, our focus will be on retracing the profound changes that have transformed and empowered Lebanon’s Shi’i communities over the past half century.
This case is particularly interesting because the very same Twelver Shi’ism that supported a particular order for centuries was then harnessed to de-legitimize and over-turn it. However, our analysis will bear less on the period’s specific shifts in Shi’ite symbols, myths and narratives, and more on the importance of the social mobilization and institution-building that allowed the change in mentalities and attitudes to be at once gradual and deeply transformative.
We start with a brief description of the social and political structures that maintained a relatively stable status quo within the Lebanese Shi’a for more than two centuries prior to the 1960s. Afterwards we focus on a Shi’ite cleric, Sayyid Muhammad Hussain Fadlullah, whose religious ideas and socio-political activism during the 1960s and 70s were crucial to setting in motion the transformations already mentioned. Finally, we jump three decades ahead to look at how the Shi’ite community changed over time, relying primarily on a detailed ethnographic study conducted by Lara Deeb between 1999 and 2001.
Professor: Najam Haider
Date: December 2013
Words: 7,700