List of Participants/Katılımcı Listesi
Prof. Amer A.Abed, Tikrit University, Tikrit, Iraq
Assoc. Prof. Bülent Aras, Işık University, Istanbul, Turkey
Dr. Ghassan Atiyyah, Iraq Foundation for Development and Democracy, Iraq
Prof. Mustafa Aydın, TOBB University, Ankara, Turkey
Asoc. Prof. İhsan Bal, Polis Academy, Ankara, Turkey
Dr. Salih Bıçakcı, Işık University, Istanbul, Turkey
Cengiz Çandar, Journalist, Istanbul, Turkey
Prof. Gökhan Çetinsaya, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey
Prof. Ahmet Davutoğlu, Ambassador, Ankara, Turkey
Dr. Safeen M. Dizayee, Foreign Affairs Office-KDP, Iraq
Prof. Zaki Fattah, American University in Beirut, Lebanon
Dr. Hakan Fidan, TIKA, Ankara, Turkey
Prof. Vassilis Fouskas, University of Stirling, UK
Prof. Emre Gonensay, Isik University, Istanbul, Turkey
Prof. Bülent Gökay, University of Keele, UK
Dr. Gudrun Harrer, University of Vienna, Austria
Asst. Prof. Mohammad Hossein Hafezian, Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch-Iran
Prof. Adnan M. Hayajneh, United Nations University, Amman, Jordan
Prof. Ersin Kalaycıoğlu, Işık University, Istanbul, Turkey
Prof. Sema Kalaycıoğlu, Işık University, Istanbul, Turkey
Prof. Lutfullah Karaman, Fatih University, Istanbul, Turkey
Prof. Mehmet Kaytaz, Işık University, Istanbul, Turkey
Prof. Kemal Kirisci, Boğaziçi University, Istanbul, Turkey
Sönmez Köksal, Istanbul, Turkey
Prof. Tayseer B. Al-Khunaizi, Kral Fahd University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Marashi, Sabancı University, Istanbul, Turkey
Prof. Valentine M. Moghadam, Illinois State University, USA
Prof. Cengiz Okman, Işık University, Istanbul, Turkey
Prof. Güven Sak, TOBB University-TEPAV, Ankara, Turkey
Dr. Saad Hariz Al Salihi, Ministry of Health, Tiqrit, Iraq
Prof. Abboud Al-Sarraj, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria
Hussain Sinjari, President of Iraq Institute for Democracy, Erbil, Iraq
Assist. Prof. Murat Somer, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Dr. Hassan Abou Taleeb, Ahram Center for Strategic & Political Studies, Cairo, Egypt
Assoc. Prof. Amir M. Haji-Yousefi, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Dr. Hassan Z. Zaki, Head of Health Department, Erbil, Iraq
Dean, College of Law
Tikrit University
Biography
Amer A. Abed was born in Dulayah in 1963. In 1985, he began to study on law at the College of law in Jordanian University. In 1989, he entered the MA program of constitutional law at college of higher studies in Jordanian University. In 1994, he began his PhD study of constitutional law at the college of law in Baghdad University. He lectured at the College of Police in Iraq from 1993 to 1995. From 1996 to 1998, he taught as a member of teaching staff at the college of Sharia and Law in Al- Hudeidah University in Yemen. Between 1998 and 2001, he worked as a member of teaching staff at college of Sharia and Law in Irbid Private University in Jordan. From 2001 to 2005, he was the assistant Dean of college of law in Tikrit University. Since 2005, he is dean of college of law in Tikrit University. Amer A.Abed lectures on the issues of administrative law, financial and taxation legislation, constitutional law and political systems.
Abstract
The Political and Constitutional Situation in Iraq since the U.S. Occupation
Recently, Iraq has been passing through a difficult period in all political, legal, security, economic and social respects. We believe that the main reason of what has happened in Iraq is the occupation that Iraq suffered. The occupation created a chaotic situation. In March 3, 2003, Iraq suffered American and British aggression. This aggression led to military occupation of this country as well as the fall of the political authority in April 9, 2003. The US justified the aggression with two arguments. The first argument was the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Americans themselves confessed that this argument was not grounded. The second argument was related to the supposed relation between Saddam Hussein regime and Al-Qaeda. Until now, this relation could not be proved. Therefore, the war strayed all its legal and moral excuses. The aggression became a threat to the security of the Middle east and the world in general.
There is an important relation between the political and constitutional situation in Iraq and the resolutions of the Security Council relating to Iraq. The researcher will focus particularly on this subject by dividing it into two parts. In the first part, he will deal with the occupation of Iraq from the perspective of the Security Council. In the second part, he will deal with the developments regarding the political and constitutional situation in Iraq from the occupation up until now.
Lecturer
Department of Finance and Economics
King Fahd University
Biography
Faculty member at Department of Finance and Economics, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Mineral resources, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Former Faculty member at Political Science Department, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He received his Ph. D from University of Kansas in 1993 in the fields of Political Economy, Comparative Politics and International Relations. He focuses on the Gulf and Middle Eastern Region. He has a Master Degree in International Relations from University of Louisville and B.A in Political Science and Economics from Eastern Kentucky University.
Large number of articles has been written on the Gulf Region and the larger region of the Middle East with examples as follows: Political Economy of Saudi Arabia; Saudi-American relations after the 11 September; The Saudi Peace Initiative for Political Settlement in the Middle East; Extremism and Potential Political Transformation in Saudi Arabia; The Saudi Educational Curriculum and Development in Saudi Arabia; The Prospect of Civil Society Development in Saudi Arabia
Abstract
Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti Policies towards Iraq
This work seeks to examine Saudi policy toward Iraq and assess the factors that shaped this policy by focusing on the post-Saddam era. Saudi policy in the years a head will probably be dominated by four concerns with respect of Iraq's future: domestic stability; foreign penetration and Iraq's political evolution. (and oil production policy is out of scope of this paper).
The security and political integrity of Saudi Arabia is perceived to have a close linkage to the stability and maintenance of Iraq's national unity. The recent active Saudi support of national reconciliation within Iraq including its endorsement of Sunni community participation in the political process is aimed at reinforcing national unity of Iraq. The recent Saudi plan of hosting a meeting between top Shiite and Sunni clerics is sought to halt mounting sectarian bloodshed between communities within Iraq. It became apparent that Saudi national interests can be served at maximum when it acts as balancing force among different Iraqi parties regardless of its ideological attachment of one party or the other involved. Saudis fear a danger of a possible civil war within Iraq that would likely to draw all regional countries into the conflict. Therefore, peaceful, prosperous and strong Iraq is an important for the stability of Saudi Arabia and the region as whole.
Saudis objected from the start to the US military action on Iraq where it regarded such action associated with it political and military consequences would probably present threat to its political interests and stability of Saudi Arabia. They feared the change in the status quo within Iraq would likely to lead to rise of new groups whom perceived to be hostile to Saudi interests and close to Iran. With this scenario, Saudis conceived potential future alliance between the two predominantly Shiite countries (Iraq and Iran) that would likely to disturb the regional balance of power in the region as well as threaten the political integrity of Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the US military occupation of Iraq was seen by Saudis as presenting a direct threat to political integrity of Saudi Arabia in the wake of straining relations between the two countries after the 11 September terrorist attacks.
The Saudi policy toward Iraq has political and military implications for the Saudi-US relations. A primarily concern for Saudis is that its Iraq policy does not appear to be antagonistic to American interests inside Iraq. Seemingly, there has been more convergence of interests between Saudi Arabia and the U.S with respect to Iraq than what was predicted prior to the war. Apparently, both countries share the objective of maintaining the existing political unity of Iraq; containing Iranian influence within the country and defeating terrorism. Saudis have suffered great deal of terrorism and can see a further escalation of terrorism and Cayuse within Iraq is very likely to be felt within Saudi Arabia. The current Saudi Arabia's experience of terrorism of those fighters returning from Afghanistan following the Soviet pullout in the late 1980s remains a fresh and lives in Saudi eyes. They fear the terrorist consequences of the Afghanistan's experience will be repeated if those foreign fighters inside Iraq were given support and shelter. The Saudis are being put in very complicated position and they had to balance among different objectives and issues involved as well as to balance between international and regional requirements.
Department of International Relations
Koç University
Biography
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Marashi lectures at the International Relations Department at Koç University in Istanbul, Turkey. He received his Dphil at University of Oxford, completing a thesis on the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Al-Marashi received a MA in Politics/Arab Studies at Georgetown in 1997. He is an Iraqi-American who lived at various times in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt and Morocco.
Abstract
Broader Parameters of the Iraqi Resistance
The mainstream media, in addition to both the Iraqi and US government tends to focus on insurgent military tactics or terrorist acts. However, one cannot understand the broader parameters of the Iraqi resistance without examining the narrative of the Iraqi resistance. This paper seeks to provide an analysis reveal of the internal dynamics of the insurgency, based on the insurgency’s narrative. Doing so can reveal the policy and rhetoric of its various movements, in addition to their military actions and future vision for Iraq. Such an analysis of insurgent discourse helps to establish the ideological foundations of the various insurgent groups in Iraq, and reveals that it is far from a monolithic resistance. Additionally, examining insurgent discourse also reveals which of these movements seek political participation in Iraq’s post-war politics, and which groups seek to undermine the process entirely.
Lecturer, Department of International Relations
Işık University
Biography
Dr. Bulent Aras is Associate Professor in the Department of International Relations at Işık University. He received his BA in Political Science and International Relations from Bogazici University, and his Ph.D. in International Relations from the same university in 1999. Her was visiting scholar at Indiana University’s Center for Eurasian Studies in 1998, Oxford University’s St. Anthony’s College in 2003 and was research scholar at Paris based European Union Institute of Security Studies.
Dr. Aras is the author of Palestinian- Israeli Peace Process and Turkey(Novascience,1998), New Geopolitics of Eurasia and Turkey’s Position (Frankcass, 2002), Turkey and the Greater Middle East( TASAM,2004) and co-editor of Oil and Geopolitics in Caspian Sea Region(Praeger,1999), and September 11 and World Politics(FUB:2004).His articles have appeared in Middle East Policy, Journal of Third World Studies, Journal South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Futures, Journal of Southern Europe and Balkans, Mediterranean Quarterly, Nationalism and Ethnic Policy and Central Asia/Caucasus. His articles have been translated into Persian, Russian and Arabic. He serves in the editorial boards of Turkish Studies, Alternatives: Turkish Journal of International Relations, and Central Asia/Caucasus.
His research interest has so far focused on Turkish Foreign Policy, Middle Eastern Politics, Central Asia and Central Asian expert. He organized several international conferences on the political and security problems of Turkey, Middle East and Asia. Dr. Aras has done consulting work with such organizations as Oxford Analytica, Microsoft, Center for Turkish-Asian Strategic Studies, Human Rights Watch, Eurasian Center for Strategic Studies and Canadian Government.
Director, Iraq Foundation for Development and Democracy
Biography
Founder and Executive Director of the Iraq Foundation for Development and Democracy in Baghdad. He is a political scientist, and was a formerly exiled opponent of Saddam Hussein's regime, living in the UK and publisher of the oppositionist periodical The Iraqi File.
Dr. Atiyyah resigned his post in the League of Arab States in 1984 as well as his post in Baghdad University and moved to England, where he became an active member of the Iraqi Democratic movement in exile. Upon the fall of Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq returned to Baghdad in April 2003 to establish one of the first Iraqi NGO (Iraq Foundation for Development and Democracy). The IFDD with the help of European and international institutions as well as UN, succeeded in presenting an Independent, secular and liberal stand and was instrumental in convening several meetings and conferences in Iraq and outside it, with aim at national reconciliation and power sharing in Iraq.
Recently he was a visiting scholar at the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law at Stanford University.
Professor of International Relations
TOBB-Economy and Technology University
Biography
Mustafa Aydin is Professor of International Relations at the TOBB-Economy and Technology University; as well as at the Turkish National Security Academy, Ankara, Turkey. He was UNESCO Fellow at the Richardson Institute for Peace Studies, UK (1999); Fulbright Scholar at the JFK School of Government, Harvard University (2002); Alexander S. Onassis Fellow at the University of Athens (2003); and Research Fellow at the EU Institute for Security Studies, Paris (2003).
Prof. Aydin is the Director of International Policy Research Institute (IPRI) of Ankara, and the President of the International Relations Council of Turkey. He is also member of Economy and Foreign Policy Study Group of the President’s Office, as well as Board member of strategic research centers of both Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Turkish Armed Forces, Ankara, Turkey.
His most recent works include New Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus: Causes of Instability and Predicament (2000); Ten Years After: Turkey’s Gulf Policy Revisited (2002); Turkey’s Foreign Policy in the 21st Century: A Changing Role in World Politics (ed. with T. Ismael, 2003); Greek-Turkish Relations in the 21st Century: Security Dilemma in the Aegean (ed. with K. Ifantis, 2004); Turkish-American Relations; Past, Present, and Future (ed. with C. Erhan, 2004); Turkish Foreign Policy; Framework and Analysis (in English and Greek, 2004); Central Asia in Global Politics (ed. in Turkish, 2004); International Security Today; Understanding Change and Debating Security (ed. with K. Ifantis, 2006); Redefining Regional Security in Wider Europe and the Broader Middle East (ed., 2006); and International Security Today; Understanding Change and Debating Strategy (ed. with K. Ifantis, 2006).
Abstract
Turkey’s Changing Iraq Policy
The purpose of this paper is to look at Turkey’s changing approach to Iraq from the prism of three wars: The hands-off policy of the Cold War years was replaced by a policy of engagement and intervention into the territory of Iraq after the Gulf War of 1990-91, which in turn led to Turkey’s cautious approach to the most recent Iraq War. The American invasion of and the regime change in Iraq also forced Turkey to reevaluate its policies towards this country and the Middle East in general. Along the way, however, Turkey’s primary interests regarding Iraq have not changed. Maintaining the status quo beyond its southern border and preventing the rise of Kurdish nationalism during the Saddam era still holds true after the American invasion, maybe even more so. What forced Turkey to reconsider its Iraqi policy and perhaps combine alternative means and approaches was the inclusion of the US in the picture as an active player in Iraq. With the American intervention and Turkey’s non-cooperation with the US during the operation, Turkey ceased to be the main external player in northern Iraq, which also had important effects on Turkish-American relations. Accordingly, this paper will analyze and compare the different considerations that shaped Turkey’s Iraq policy during the Cold War, before and after the Gulf War, and finally before, during and since the most recent Iraq War. It is hoped that this analysis would provide a meaningful tool to predict Turkey’s future Iraq policies.
Lecturer, Police Academy
Head, International Security, Terrorism and Ethnic Studies,
International Strtategic Research Organisation
Biography
İhsan Bal was born in Ordu in 1966. In 1988, he graduated from Turkish Police Academy, and he recieved his master degree from the University of Leicester in 1992. In 1999, after writting his dissertation on Prevention of Terrorism in Liberal Democracies in the University of Leicester, he obtained his Ph.D studying. He worked as an Associate Professor at Institute of Security Sciences in Ankara in 2004. And in 2004, he was head of the International Security, Terrorism and Ethnic Studies Centre at ISRO located in Ankara. He published some articles related fields of Fight against Terror and the Police Ethics, Police Operations, Organized Crime and Terrorism, Kurdist Movements. By some articles mentioned above, he is writer of some books published under the name of Police Professional Ethics (2002), Police Ethics (2003), Ethnic Terrorism in Turkey and the Case of the PKK: Roots, Structure, Survival, and Ideology (2004), European Union with Turkey (2005), Terrorism (2006)
Abstract
Alternative Scenarios in Struggling Against Terror in Iraq
After Saddam Hussein’s abdication in 2003, Iraq has unable to find stability as a result of the American led power. Since 2003, violent events cannot be avoided and within the country hundreds of thousands, many of them civilians, have died. Various reasons have led to the influx of violence; each side has its own justification and rationality in attacking the other side. In short, there are many reasons to kill and not enough to keep people alive. Multiple groups and parties utilize terrorist strategies by either exploiting these tactics in part or in whole. As a result the strategy in combating terrorism conveys a complex situation in Iraq.
To save Iraq from this vicious situation, many scenarios have been produced. This article will describe a three-prong formulation based on the rejection of using of terrorist organizations and strategies, which are used by all actors in Iraq, even in periodical terms. Defining a central authority in Iraq, and demonstrating the applying the use of police security, preventive, and criminal intelligence in an efficient manner are the central points of the aforementioned formulation.
Lecturer, Department of International Relations
Işık University
Biography
Dr. Ahmet Salih Bıçakcı is a lecturer in the department of International Relations of Işık University. Dr. Bıçakcı received his BA in the history department of Marmara University in 1994. He completed his MA in Turkic Studies Institute of Marmara University. Later, he had his PhD in Tel Aviv University in 2004 and teaches Middle East in International Politics. Dr. Bıçakcı participated in various international projects on identity and politics. He had field experience in Israel, Palestine and Uzbekistan. He focuses on the Middle East and Central Asia.
Biography
Senior Columnist in daily Bugün and the English language daily The New Anatolian. Lecturer on The Middle East History and Politics at the Istanbul Kültür University. Special Advisor to President Turgut Özal on foreign policy issues (1991-1993). Public Policy Scholar at the Wilson Center and Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace (1999-2000). Author of seven books in Turkish, mainly on the Middle East and contributor to three books in English on Turkish-American relations and Turkish foreign policy.
Abstract
That is mainly the Kurdish question and the threat perception emanates from that which dictates Turkey’s Iraq policy. On the eve of Iraq war (2003) and its aftermath, such a preoccupation in Turkish foreign policy thinking reflected on the deterioration in the traditionally strongest anchor of Turkish foreign policy, the relations with the United States. The new revisionism of Bush’s foreign policy and its priority for change in the Middle East clashed with Turkey’s ever-increased concern for stability in the region and above all in Iraq. Despite the efforts of both parties to synchronize their Iraq policies which occasionally ameliorated the relationship, that did not go further than a mutual understanding in incorporating the Sunni element in Iraq to participation in the political process. The divergences, though implicitly, on the Kurdish issue remain. Unless Turkey concedes that a paradigm shift is realized in Iraq and thus overhauls its outlook accordingly, the future, in terms of Turkey’s domestic stability and its relations with its ally, the United States, is fraught with problems.
Professor of History
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Istanbul Technical University
Biography
He is a professor of history at Istanbul Technical University, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. He works on Turkish political history, Turkish foreign policy and the Middle East. Some of his publications include: Ottoman Administration of Iraq, 1890-1908 (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2006); “Turkey’s Stature as a Middle Eastern Power,” Turkish-Israeli Relations in a Trans-Atlantic Context: Wider Europe and the Greater Middle East, eds. Bruce Maddy–Weitzman and Asher Susser (Tel Aviv University, The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, 2005), 45-50; “The Caliph and Mujtahids: Ottoman Policy towards the Shi’i Community of Iraq in the Late Nineteenth Century,” Middle Eastern Studies, 41 (July 2005), 561-574; “Essential Friends and Natural Enemies: The Historical Roots of Turkish-Iranian Relations,” Middle East Review of International Affairs (September 2003); “The Ottoman View of British Presence in Iraq and the Gulf: The Era of Abdulhamid II,” Middle Eastern Studies, 39 (April 2003), 194-203.
Abstract
Historical Assessment of Turkish-Iraqi Relations
Turkey has had historical relations with Iraq for over four hundred years since the early 16th century. The political and economic relations have continued during the Republican era. Turkey and Iraq started to improve their relations as soon as Iraq achieved its independence despite the imprints of the perception of Ottoman legacy in general, the ‘Arab revolt” and the question of Mosul in particular. Turkey and Iraq signed the Sadabad Pact in 1937 as countries having similar perception of threats and overlapping national and regional interests. ‘The Baghdad axis’ which emerged in Turkish foreign policy in the 1930s has continued until 1990/91, despite the changes of governments and regimes. Turkey defined and pursued its relations with the Arab world over this axis. Regardless of the regimes in Iraq, the integrity and stability of Iraq has always been important for Turkey.
Reader,
Department of Politics and International Relations
Stirling University
Biography
Abstract
Constitution and the Political Process in Iraq
The main obstacle thwarting America's objectives in Iraq is a peculiar type of nationalism developed by ethnic and religious groups, all of which see control of oil resources as a means to sovereign statehood and/or regional independence. The socio-political dynamics of those movements have been crystallized in the new controversial Constitution of the country, which, unsuccessfully, tried to accommodate the Shi'a and the Kurds at the expense of the Sunnis. What we can call 'petroleum nationalism' is a social phenomenon which is being imbedded in the Constitution and which acts, in certain ways paradoxically and discursively, as a progressive force opposing America's neo-imperial strategies in Iraq and the Greater Middle East.
Lecturer, American University in Beirut
Biography
Former Chief, Economic Development Issues and Policies Division, ESCWA. He is an economic advisor to Kurdistan Regional Government and teaches development economics at American University in Beirut.
Abstract
Economic Development in Iraq
The presentation would be composed of three parts. Part one highlights the type of economy Iraq received from the old regime. This part would produce indicators of main social and economic performance in the economy to draw a picture for the state of the economy the old regime left behind.
The indictors would be selective representing: i) Social development, (Health, Education, Housing, Water, Electricity); ii) Economic development (Per capita income, Unemployment, Trade, Oil sector, Private sector, Banking system, Insurance system, Economic sector performance, Transportation, Communication; iii) Governance and rule of law; iv) Environment protection.
Part two explores the main pillars of the present economic strategy and examines the arguments behind them. Part three presents some critical remarks regarding the effectiveness of the strategy and offers some alternatives. The discussion would touch on water issues, population increase, government restructuring, reorientation of education system, decentralization, WTO issues, and sustainable growth, and other interrelated issues.
Reader
Department of International Relations
Keele University
Biography
Bulent Gokay is a Reader in International Relations at Keele University. He is also the Director of Master Programs of the University. Bulent Gokay's research and publications record covers two main interrelated strands- the first relates to the history of post-WWI settlements in the Near and Middle East and the Caucasus; the second to contemporary political and policy issues such as the geopolitics of oil, nationalism and human rights in Eurasia. He has co-authored with Richard Langhorne Turkey and the New States of the Caucasus and Central Asia (HMSO, 1996). He edited twelve volumes of British Documents of Foreign Affairs (Turkey, 1923-52). Bülent Gökay's A Clash of Empires: Turkey between Russian Bolshevism and British Imperialism was published by IB Tauris in 1997. His The Politics of Caspian Oil was published by Palgrave in 2001. His text-book, Eastern Europe Since 1970, has just been published by Longman. He is the co-editor of 11 September 2001: War, Terror and Judgement. His book, The New American Imperialism: Bush's War on Terror and Blood for Oil, co-authored with Vassilis K. Fouskas was published by Greenwood Publishing Group on 30/10/2005. Bulent Gökay's Soviet Eastern Policy and Turkey, 1920-1991, has just been published by Routledge in 2006.AbstractShiites move to fill vacuum in IraqThe recent war in Iraq has produced an unintended consequence – a fearsome ShiiteMuslim geopolitical bloc that will dominate the political life in the Middle East for many years. Following the US-led military operations in 2003, religious Shiite groups and militias in Iraq have stepped into the gap resulting from the collapse of the Baath Party, especially in the sacred shrine cities. Among the big surprises of the months following the fall of the Baath Party in Iraq is the way in which Shiite religious leaders and parties moved immediately into the vacuum. All this has strengthened Iran's strategic viability and increased its regional popularity. Since 1979, for a rising generation of ambitious Shiites, no figure was more inspiring or influential than Khomeini. It seems that twenty-seven years after Ayatollah Khomeini outmaneuvered Iran's religious and political establishment, his spiritual disciples in Iraq are now attempting a similar clerical takeover. Within the increasingly volatile conditions of post-Saddam Iraq, where the American occupation of Iraq is very unsteady, the power of the Shiites has emerged as one of the wildcards. If the state of affairs in Iraq worsens further, the whole Middle East would be at risk of a sectarian conflict between Shiites and Sunnis.
Lecturer, Vienna University
Foreign Editor, Der Standard
Biography
Gudrun Harrer was in born in 1959 in Austria. He was educated in Oriental studies at Vienna University. After finished MA’s thesis studying on transcription problems of Arabic, She obtained MA degree in the department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Vienna University. Before starting to work as a Foreign Editor at the Head of the foreign desk of "Der Standard”, he also worked at "Der Standard” as a Middle East editor. Gudrun Harrer is a lecturer at Vienna. He has been charged as Former Special Envoy of the Austrian Presidency of the European Union to Iraq. Gudrun is the author of three books on other than Middle East issues and a book on the reasons of the Iraq war: Kriegs-Gründe. Ein Versuch über den Irak-Krieg, Mandelbaum, Vienna 2003.
Abstract
The six months of the Austrian Presidency of the European Union (January to June 2006) and my presence in Baghdad as Special Envoy coincided with a deterioration of the security situation in Iraq especially regarding inter-sectarian violence. The hopes of the international community that the first regular Iraqi government would be formed quickly after the election of December 2005 and that a government of national unity would bring the stabilization of the country were in vain. However, the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki invests considerable efforts, among them the initiative of national reconciliation, the improvement of the basic infrastructure, and the fight against corruption and embezzlement, especially in the oil sector. It is a race against time: Iraqis are losing confidence that the new government is strong enough to take control of the situation.
We can observe that Iraq today is discussed mainly in the context of US policy, not in Iraq’s own rights and interests. Iraq has to be put back on the international agenda. The upcoming Iraq Compact Conference could be an opportunity for that. The conference will provide the “framework for a defined, prioritized and benchmarked economic program”, as the Secretary General of the UN, which is co-chairing the process, puts it. However, the EU has the strong opinion that the Compact should address not only economy reform, but also the likewise crucial questions of politics and security. It is another format for Iraq to use for domestic consensus-building.
Assistant Professor of Political Science,
Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch-Iran
Biography
Mohammad Hossein Hafezian was born in Babol, north Iran in March 1975. In 1993, he began studying political science at the Faculty of Law and Political Science, Tehran University. In 1997 he succeeded in entering the MA program of political science in Tehran University. He wrote his thesis on political participation of women during the Islamic Revolution. A revised version of the thesis was published in 2001 under the title of Women and the Revolution: the Untold Story in Persian. He began his PhD education in Tehran University in 1999 by focusing his research on political sociology, political development, and especially Middle Eastern Studies. From 2000, he started working as a senior research fellow at the Center for Scientific Research and Middle East Strategic Studies. He is the assistant editor of an English-language journal, Discourse: an Iranian Quarterly, and a member of the editorial staff of a Persian-language journal, Middle East Studies Quarterly, both published by the Center. In June 2004, he defended his dissertation on Political Elites and Political Development in the Middle East: A Comparative Study of Iran, Turkey and Egypt. He has written extensively on women's issues, development, Iranian foreign policy, and Middle East politics in various Persian, English and Arabic journals. He is a member of the directorate of the Iranian Association of Women’s Studies since early 2005. Now he works as a senior research fellow at the Center for Scientific Research and Middle East Strategic Studies and an assistant professor of political science at the Islamic Azad University Karaj Branch.
Abstract
Problems of Civil Society in Iraq: Thinking of a Better Future amid Chaos
Unlike many Middle Eastern nations, Iraq has a long record of having civil society organizations. Iraq has long possessed a vibrant civil society just less strong than Iran’s one in the entire Persian Gulf region. However, age-old civil society organizations that smoothed the edges between Arab and Kurd, Shia and Sunni along with most of the underpinnings of Iraqi society were damaged by the long Saddam Hussein dictatorship. For that reason, since 60 percent of the Iraqi population is under 21 years of age, they do not know anything other than Saddam’s regime. Hence, it is no surprise that they seek their identity in their primary groups rather than secondary groups. That is because under Saddam most of civil society organizations, i.e. secondary groups, were suppressed and even ceased to exist. So, after the fall of Saddam’s regime, the only possible area of social activity and identity-seeking was primary groups such as religious, ethnic, and community-based groups that regularly survive dictatorships everywhere in the world. Instead of being identified with their ideology, political tendency, professional association and so on, the Iraqis were identified as being Kurds, Shia Arabs and Sunni Arabs
Now Iraq needs the reconstruction of its age-old voluntary associations and civil society organizations based upon professional and ideological attachments rather than religious, ethnic, tribal or sectarian ties and affinities. Those who just talk about the tough realities of Iraq, questioning the actual ‘readiness’ of the Iraqi people to take on democracy and justifying their rejection of the possibility of developing a strong civil society, ignore the fact that Iraq’s civil society was just in a coma under Saddam’s regime and now it just needs to be reconfigured. So, it comes as an insult to those who wish a strong civil society and viable democratic government in Iraq.
At the same time, the international forces also weaken the process of development of civil society by supporting some specific ethnic or religious groups in Iraq as the country becomes a battleground for such forces in order to increase their respective influence in the Iraqi political scene. It happens at a time when it becomes clear that all international forces still have common interest in a democratic, stable, and unified Iraq.
Encouraging Iraqis in the past three years to emerge from three decades of dictatorship and embrace a vibrant civil society including labor unions and professional associations, could be a difficult task to do, because the people's main concern has become basic survival and not building their civil society. None of the civil society institutions can function without a basic foundation of peace and security. To create a civil society based on principals of democracy and the rule of law in a post-Saddam Iraq requires the stability and security that Iraq lacks today. But in the future, to guarantee a vigorous civil society depends on transforming Iraq from a command economy that lives and dies on oil revenues into a diverse, free market. As long as the structure of rentier state has not withered away, there is little hope for the fundamental change in government structure and the building of a strong civil society independent of the state. Another important point is women's involvement in efforts to rebuild civil society. Their involvement tends to moderate political extremism, thus encouraging female-centered civil society groups would help undermine the male-dominated elites that have done so much damage to Iraq. The cause of women’s rights can be a suitable theme that unites women from all walks of life and from different ethnic and religious groups.
Biography
Dr. Sa’ad F. Hariz is a leading intellectual in Iraq. He comments on major Iraqi problems and attends international conferences on the Middle Eastern issues. He contributes to scholarly and practical understanding of the Iraqi issues and other Middle Eastern problems.
Abstract
Shiism in Iraq
The paper reviews chronological evolvement of Shiite in Iraq during the past century focusing in particular on the critical changes that took place after the American invasion to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Starting by a brief introduction since British occupation & stepping through the most influential factors that brought the Shiite in Iraq their distinguished status until the appearance of Saddam Hussein who played major role in the brutal repression of Shiite in the contemporary history of modern Iraq.
American invasion & fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein will transfer the situation to another horizon of analysis greatly mixed with a lot of local & regional factors tailoring the ongoing status of Shiite in Iraq, together with appearance of violence & emergence of Al Qa'ida, a status that confuses the perspectives of Sunni, Shiite & secular blocks in the country to identify the right track for finding solutions out of the chaotic turmoil. Stepping toward sectarian civil war is the most critical concern of this paper & the way to face this tragedy will be thoroughly detailed in order to clarify what could be considered under certain agendas whether local or regional or even improvised by the force of sectarian hatred & social retardation.
Associate Professor of Political Science
Program of International Relations & Strategic Studies
The Hashemite University, Jordan
Biography
He is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the Hashemite University (1999-P). He established a new department International Relations and Strategic Studies one of its first kind in the region. He has held several Academic and Administrative positions in many institutions at the United Nations University:-International Leadership Institute, as Senior Program Officer, Al-Bayt University, Jordan, The Emirates Center for Strategic and Research, Abu Dhabi, UAE, The University of Jordan, University of Arizona, USA, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona, USA.
Dr. Hayajneh graduated from the University of Arizona, where he obtained a Doctorate of Philosophy in Political Science in May 1995 majoring in International Relations and American Politics. Previously, he received his M.A. from California State University, Chico in International Relations and American Government. He went to Yarmouk University in Jordan for his undergraduate degree.
Dr. Hayajneh is a specialist in international relations and research methodology. He is an expert on American foreign policy, Gulf security and strategic and leadership development. Dr. Hayajneh has more than 30 published books and journal articles in Arabic and in English. He has participated in more than 40 international, regional, and national conferences. He appeared on many TV shows including regular appearance on Jordan TV and BBC World. He has numerous activities related to the importance of leadership development with regard to democratic governance and international dialogue.
Abstract
Jordanian Policy towards Iraq
The paper will analyze Jordanian policy towards Iraq. It will consist of three parts: an analysis of the relationship between Iraq and Jordan over the past 50 years. Second, Jordan policy, and the new Iraq after the US occupation. Third, Jordan and the future scenarios in Iraq.
Jordan and Iraq have had historical relationship that goes back to many decades and have witnessed many developments in this period. Iraq and Jordan have developed an interdependent relationship over the past decades. Jordan relied heavily on Iraqi oil while Iraq relied heavily on the Jordanian market for its sources of supply; Jordan was the only lifeline for Iraq during the sanction years. Jordan and Iraq enjoyed good relations after Jordan sided with Iraq in its war with Iran and when Jordan took a strong position toward an Arab solution for the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. In addition, the American war on Iraq has presented Jordan with many dilemmas towards its regional role and its relationship with the new Iraq. Jordan is trying to play a vital role in rebuilding Iraq. Jordan prime ministers were the only Arab Prime ministers to visit the new Iraq. Jordan is the safe-heaven for more than 600, 000 Iraqis.
The paper will discuss Jordan policy towards the new Iraq taking into consideration the following factors:
First: the state of internal affairs of Iraq including the Iraqi civil war, the spill over of terrorism and the internal conflict among the factions of several nationalities and religions. The state of affairs in Iraq is of a failing state. No education, no jobs, no health services, no security, no state. These developments will affect Jordan and it will influence its calculations and what it can and cannot do.
Second the State of the regional affairs surrounding Iraq including the role of Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Saudi Arabia and how their views of the future of Iraq may influence Jordan’s policy. In addition, the relationship between Iraq and the Arab Israeli conflict will be discussed. The view of the role of Iran in the region and the building of new alliances plays an important role in Jordanian policy towards Iraq.
Third, the role of international factors namely the role of the US in reshaping the region will be analyzed. The latest report in the US shows that the war on Iraq has encouraged terrorism in the region and it more likely to spread to neighboring countries, which makes Jordan tense about these developments. Thus, the US and its strategy are under more scrutiny. The US and its allies are in awkward position. According to King Abdullah II “we ran out of arguments” in an interview with the Times.
Jordan policy towards Iraq is clear. It wants an integrated and stable Iraq, which is part of the Arab nation, a democratic one that will include all, and an enhanced bilateral relationship. This is the ideal case for Jordan in Iraq. However, this is not promising due to many factors that the paper will discuss. Moreover, the paper will discuss and analyze Jordan policy towards various scenarios that the paper will offer regarding the new Iraq.
Professor of Economics,
Department of Economics
Işık University
BiographyProfessor Emre Gonensay is a full time professor at the Department of Economics at Işık University. He received his BA degree in Humanities from Robert College, his MA degree in economics from Columbia University and his PhD in economics from London School of Economics. He has worked as the former Minister of Foreign Affairs. He has also worked as the Dean at Boğaziçi University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences during the years 1971-1976. He is currently teaching Economic Policy at undergraduate level and Energy Economics at graduate level in the Middle East Program at Işık University. His major fields of academic interest are Collective Decision Making and Politics, Energy Economics and the Middle East.
Professor of Political Science
President, Isik University
Biography
Dr. Kalaycioglu is a Full Professor of Political Science and Rector (President) of Isik University, Istanbul, Turkey. Prof. Kalaycioglu is a student of comparative politics and specializes in political representation and participation. He has published on those two fields internationally. He has authored and co-edited four books in Turkish on Comparative Political Participation, Turkish Political Life (co-edited), and Contemporary Political Science (text-book), Turkish Politics (co-edited), and co-edited Turkey: Political, Social and Economic Challenges in the 1990s (Leiden, New York, Köln: E. J. Brill, 1995). He has recently been involved in conducting a research project on political participation, and women’s socio-political status in Turkey. Most recently Prof. Kalaycioglu has published a book on the socio-economic and political status of women in Turkey with Binnaz Toprak. Dr. Kalaycioglu has contributed a chapter on Turkey in Mark Kasselman, Joel Krieger and William A. Joseph (eds.) Introduction to Comparative Politics, Third Ed. (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 2005). He has recently authored a book called Turkish Dynamics: A Bridge Across Troubled Lands (New York: Macmillan-Palgrave, 2005). He has another book, co-authored with Ali Çarkoglu of Sabanci University called Turkish Democracy Today: Elections, Protest and Stability in an Islamic Society, (London: I. B. Tauris), forthcoming in 2006. Currently, Prof. Kalaycioglu is carrying out studies of socio-political orientations and attitudes toward politics in Turkey in collaboration with Ali Carkoglu of Sabanci University.
Abstract
Elections and National Solidarity through Democracy in Iraq
Elections are occasions for the people to participate in the affairs of their nation. Through such a practice the legitimacy of governments are established. Thus national elections contribute to national integration through meaningful participation of the masses in the legitimate political processes of their country. Indeed, hopes were also pinned on the Iraqi elections as a participatory mechanism providing for the jump start of democratic integration of Iraq.
The results of the December 15, 2005 elections in Iraq come closest to a genuine democratic electoral process the country has come to experience in recent years. A close examination of the election results seem to indicate ethnic and sectarian consolidation of voting patterns across the political geography of Iraq, which seem to reinforce differences and further consolidate the local power structures and elites. A mosaic of sectarian and ethnic differences seemed to be taking hold of the socio-political reality of Iraq and elections seem to be reinforcing such differences, rather than glossing over them and initiating national solidarity across sectarian and ethnic lines.
National elections alone cannot bring about national integration and democratic consolidation, though elections do not necessarily and normally work to undermine the latter either. However, the Iraqi elections of December 15, 2005 seemed to show that elections are effective mechanism in reinforcing existence power structures and the socio-political milieu within which they take place. The pre-election conditions being so dysfunctional to democracy, the December 15, 2005 elections seemed to also function to bolster that picture, rather than promote democratic consolidation and national integration in Iraq.