Overview
- Focuses on the relations between Iraq and the U.S. from the end of the Cold War
- Maintains Iraq as the central focus rather than successive American administrations
- Explores the consequences of American foreign policy for Iraqis and others in the Middle East
Part of the book series: Frontiers of Globalization (FOG)
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Keywords
- Pax Americana
- War in Iraq
- Kurdistan
- Kurdistan Regional Government
- Iraq Invasion of 2003
- Gulf War
About this book
This book surveys the testimony of international organizations of the impact of American foreign policy on Iraq. Each reveals a fragment of Iraq’s mosaic of misery and desolation, but lacks the context to permit our understanding why this has happened. A parallel lack of context characterizes most of the political commentary, overlooking the recurring pattern of victimization of Iraqis, regardless of which political party controls the White House. This book takes a broader perspective, to reveal the enduring pattern linking specific events.
Reviews
Endorsements
"This short but profound book manages to consider both the disasters that have befallen Iraq but also the confused and sinister behavior embedded in this pattern of dysfunctional U.S. deployments of hard and soft power over a period of six decades. What results is a highly instructive book that contextualizes U.S. geopolitical tactics and strategies in a manner that sheds light on a host of other contemporary concerning issues around the world.”
—Richard Falk, Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University
“… a searing critique of US foreign and military policy in the Middle East since the Gulf War. It demonstrates with brutal clarity the falsity of American narratives about democracy and human rights promotion and surveys the regional instability Washington left behind.”
—Juan Cole, Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History, University of Michigan
“… a book that is coolly argued but fired up by outrage at the price that Iraqis have had to pay over the years to conform with US views of what the Middle East should look like. By focusing on these two facets of the unequal US-Iraqi relationship, the authors are to be congratulated for their meticulous and moving portrayal of the impact on the citizens of Iraq of American preoccupations that neither understood nor sympathized with the aspirations of Iraqis themselves."
—Charles Tripp, FBA, Professor Emeritus of Politics with reference to the Middle East and North Africa, SOAS, University of London
Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
Dr. Jacqueline S. Ismael (1942-2023) was Professor of Social Work at the University of Calgary, Canada, and co-editor of the International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies. She published extensively on social policy and international social welfare, and co-authored many works with Tareq Y. Ismael, including The Iraqi Predicament (2004), Government and Politics of the Contemporary Middle East (2016, 2023), and Iraq in the Twenty-First Century (2017). She also co-edited with William Haddad, Barriers to Reconciliation: Case Studies on Iraq and the Palestine–Israel Conflict (2006).
Dr. Tareq Y. Ismael is Professor of Political Science at the University of Calgary, Canada, and Editor of the Journal of Contemporary Iraq & the Arab World. He is author/co-author and editor of many works on Iraq and the Middle East, including Iraq: The Human Cost of History (2003), Cultural Cleansing: Why Museums Were Looted, Libraries Burned and Academics Murdered (2010), and International Relations of the Contemporary Middle East (2014).
Dr. Leslie T. MacDonald worked at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, advised on research design, edited several of the Ismaels’ books, and is Associate Editor of the Journal for Contemporary Iraq & the Arab World.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Pax Americana
Book Subtitle: Unending War on Iraq
Authors: Jacqueline S. Ismael, Tareq Y. Ismael, Leslie T. MacDonald
Series Title: Frontiers of Globalization
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-61272-5Due: 18 July 2024
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-61275-6Due: 18 July 2024
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-61273-2Due: 18 July 2024
Series ISSN: 2946-3777
Series E-ISSN: 2946-3785
Edition Number: 1