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The opening of Iraq's Ba'th Party archives revolutionized the study of Iraqi politics and history, offering scholars unprecedented access to the inner workings of one of the world's most impenetrable autocracies. This volume brings together leading scholars to take stock of what we have learned from over a decade of research using the Ba'thist archives, contributing to a new understanding of Iraq's history, with wider implications for understanding authoritarianism in general.
The contributors show how research in these unique archives challenges previous assumptions about Ba'thist Iraq and the workings of authoritarian regimes. Their chapters provide fresh insights into how Saddam Hussein's regime functioned both at the elite level and through everyday bureaucratic practices, shedding light on state power, social relations, and international politics of the Middle East. The volume also critically reflects on the ethical questions posed by the archives, including their origins, the impact of their removal from Iraq, and access barriers for local scholars. Rich in empirical detail yet framed by cutting-edge theoretical questions, this book demonstrates how the Iraqi archives have reshaped debates about authoritarianism, governance, repression, and state-society relations well beyond the Iraqi case.
"This volume, based on Iraq's Ba'thist archives, offers critical insights into authoritarian power and showcases new scholars' nuanced approaches that enrich the critical interpretation of these records."—Dina Khoury, author of Iraq in Wartime: Soldiering, Martyrdom and Remembrance
—JOSEPH SASSOON
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Introduction
—LISA BLAYDES and SAMUEL HELFONT
1. Arrested History: Hierarchized Knowledge Production and Iraq's Bath Party Archives
— MARSIN ALSHAMARY and SHAMIRAN MAKO
2. The Iraqi Secret Police Documents and the Anfal Campaign: A Personal Account
—JOOST HILTERMANN
3. The Iraqi Security Services and the "Dodgy Dossier": The Relevance of Iraqi History and Archives
—IBRAHIM AL-MARASHI
4. Captured Records and the Lessons of Learning
—KEVIN M. WOODS
5. Generating Theory from Iraqi Archives:Insights from Two Challenging Decades
—MÅLFRID BRAUT-HEGGHAMMER
6. Researching Histories of Women and Gender in the Iraqi Bath Party Archives
—ALISSA WALTER
7. The Iraq Archives and the Question of Tribalism in Bathist Iraq
—YANIV VOLLER
8. The Kurdish Question and the Making of Saddam Hussein
— RUIHENG LI
9. Claiming Human Rights Violations in Iraq: Kurdish and Iraqi Bathist Attempts to Gain International Recognition in the 1990s
—LILY HINDY
10. The Bath and the Assyrian Diaspora
—ALDA BENJAMEN
11. The Origins of the Archive: New Sources for the Study of Bath Party Founder Michel Aflaq in Iraq
—MICHAEL BRILL
12. Resource Mobilization and Regime Survival in Saddam Hussein's Iraq
—ECKART WOERTZ
13. Using Media Sources to Understand Activism and Political Expression in Iraq Under Saddam Hussein
—AHMED AL-RAWI
14. Bathists in the Arab Gulf States and Iraq-Gulf Relations
—TOBY MATTHIESEN
15. Chemical Weapons, COIN, and Coercion: Explaining Iraq's Gassings During the Anfal
—DAVID PALKKI and LAWRENCE RUBIN
16. The End of History on the Euphrates: Iraqi Perspectives on the Final Chapter of the Cold War
—DANIEL CHARDELL
17. Baghdad, Moscow, and the Soviet Bloc: Insights from the Iraqi Bath Party Records
—KATE TIETZEN-WISDOM
18. Minding the Gaps: Knowns and Unknowns After the 2003 Invasion
—DAVID SIDDHARTHA PATEL
Conclusion
—ARIEL I. AHRAM
Notes
Index