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The Ayatollahs and Democracy in Iraq

Author: Juan Ricardo Cole

Publisher: Amsterdam University Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 29

ISBN-13: 9053568891

Annotation. Iraqi Shiism is undergoing profound changes, leading to new elaborations of the relationship between clerics and democratic principles in an Islamic state. The Najaf tradition of thinking about Shiite Islam and the modern state in Iraq, which first developed during the Iranian constitutional revolution of 1905-1911, rejects the principle that supreme power in an Islamic state must be in clerical hands. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani of Iraq stands in this tradition, and he has striven to uphold and develop it since the fall of Saddam Hussein. At key points he came into conflict with the Bush administration, which was not eager for direct democracy. Parliamentary politics have also drawn in clerics of the Dawa Party, the Sadr movement, and the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, all of which had earlier been authoritarian in outlook. Is Iraqi Shiism experiencing its enlightenment moment? This title can be previewed in Google Books - http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN9789053568897.

Ayatollah Sistani and the Democratization of Post-Ba'athist Iraq

Author: Babak Rahimi

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 24

ISBN-13:

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Patriotic Ayatollahs

Author: Caroleen Marji Sayej

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2018-04-15

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 1501714767

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Patriotic Ayatollahs explores the contributions of senior clerics in state and nation-building after the 2003 Iraq war. Caroleen Sayej suggests that the four so-called Grand Ayatollahs, the highest-ranking clerics of Iraqi Shiism, took on a new and unexpected political role after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Drawing on previously unexamined Arabic-language fatwas, speeches, and communiqués of Iraq’s four grand ayatollahs, this book analyzes how their new pronouncements and narratives shaped public debates after 2003. Sayej argues that, contrary to standard narratives about religious actors, the Grand Ayatollahs were among the most progressive voices in the new Iraqi nation. She traces the transformative position of Ayatollah Sistani as the "guardian of democracy" after 2003. Sistani was, in particular, instrumental in derailing American plans that would have excluded Iraqis from the state-building process—a remarkable story in which an octogenarian cleric takes on the United States over the meaning of democracy. Patriotic Ayatollahs’ counter-conventional argument about the ayatollahs’ vision of a nonsectarian nation is neatly realized. Through her deep knowledge and long-term engagement with Iraqi politics, Sayej advances our understanding of how the post-Saddam Iraqi nation was built.

Appeasing the Ayatollahs and Suppressing Democracy

Author: Iran Policy Committee

Publisher: Iran Policy Committee

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 1599752972

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Iran is emerging as the primary threat against the United States and its allies. Iran’s drive to acquire nuclear weapons, continuing support for and involvement with terrorist networks, publicly-stated opposition to the Arab-Israel peace process, disruptive role in Iraq, expansionist radical ideology, and its denial of basic human rights to its own population are challenges confronting U.S. policymakers. In trying to solve the puzzle posed by Iran, Iran Policy Committee's report suggests that Iranian opposition groups play a central role in U.S. policymaking.

Iraq, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World

Author: ʻAlī Pāyā

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 0415582288

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Topics such as the compatibility of Islam and democracy, and the question of whether democracy can be encouraged in the Middle East are looked at carefully. Contributors evaluate the circumstances under which democracy can be imposed by outside force, and ask what forces are driving the confrontation between the West and Islam, before looking at how this confrontation is likely to develop. --

The Ayatollahs' Democracy

Author: Hooman Majd

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2011-08-23

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0393340635

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Hooman Majd offers a dramatic perspective on a country with global ambitions, an elaborate political culture, and enormous implications for world peace. Drawing on privileged access to the Iranian power elite, Majd argues that despite the violence of the disputed 2009 elections, a group of influential ayatollahs--including a liberal, almost-secular opposition--still believes in the Iranian republic; for them, "green" represents not a revolution but a civil rights movement, pushing the country inexorably toward democracy, albeit a particular brand of "Islamic democracy." With witty, candid, and intelligent reporting, Majd, himself the grandson of an esteemed ayatollah, introduces top-level politicians and clerics as well as ordinary people (even Jewish community leaders), all expressing pride for their ancient heritage and fierce independence from the West.--From publisher description

Ayatollahs, Sufis and Ideologues

Author: Fāliḥ ʻAbd al-Jabbār

Publisher: Saqi Books

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13:

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This book is the first comprehensive study of Islam and Islamism in Iraq. It begins by presenting the multitude of forms and structures of religion present there: from organized religion to the myriad patterns of popular religion, as well as the various Islamist social movements and organizations in existence. All serving social, political and economic functions that are complex and intricate. It also attempts to avoid the oversimplified current views on the nature of Islam and its roles within Iraq, especially with regard to the interplay between ethnicity and religion: the trilogy of Kurds, Shi'is and Sunnis, who presumably lead a strained, antagonistic relationship. While focusing on the unique nature of religion and state-religion tensions in Iraq, the book includes detailed comparisons with other Middle Eastern countries, mainly Iran.

Democracy in Iraq

Author: Dr Benjamin Isakhan

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2012-09-01

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 1409461157

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This book proposes a significant reassessment of the history of Iraq, documenting democratic experiences from ancient Mesopotamia through to the US occupation. Such an analysis takes to task claims that the 'West' has a uniquely democratic history and a responsibility to spread democracy across the world. It also reveals that Iraq has a democratic history all of its own, from ancient Middle Eastern assemblies and classical Islamic theology and philosophy, through to the myriad political parties, newspapers and protest movements of more recent times. This book argues that the democratic history of Iraq could serve as a powerful political and discursive tool where the Iraqi people may come to feel a sense of ownership over democracy and take pride in endorsing it. This could go a long way towards mitigating the current conflicts across the nation and in stabilizing and legitimating its troubled democracy. Taking an interdisciplinary approach and referring to some of the most influential critical theorists to question ideological assumptions about democracy and its history, this book is useful to those interested in political and legal history, human rights and democracy.

Enemies of the Ayatollahs

Author: Mohammad Mohaddessin

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13:

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What happens in post-war Iraq may well be decided by what happens in Iran. In this powerful account of its theocratic regime, the author pays particular attention to the Iranian factor in the 2003 Iraq war, and the likely impact of the continuation of the mullahs' regime and its tendency to interfere in its neighbour's affairs. He reveals startling new information about Iran's continued links with fundamentalist Islamic organizations abroad, the pursuit of its nuclear ambitions, and its ongoing use of terrorism against its own opponents - all of which justify a high level of international concern. The author argues that, in contrast to the ruling regime, the main Iranian opposition is essentially democratic, nationalist and in favour of a separation of religion and state. He raises fundamental questions about Islamic fundamentalism, and sets out a liberating, compassionate, tolerant and democratic version of Islam which can hold out hope for the Middle East as a whole.

From Dictatorship to Democracy

Author: Hamid al-Bayati

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2014-01-30

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 0812290380

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Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title Today, Hamid al-Bayati serves as Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations. But for many years he lived in exile in London, where he worked with other opponents of Saddam Hussein's regime to make a democratic and pluralistic Iraq a reality. As former Western spokesman for the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), and as a member of the executive council of the Iraqi National Congress, two of the main groups opposing Saddam's regime, he led campaigns to alert the world to human rights violations in Iraq and win support from the international community for the removal of Saddam. An important Iraqi diplomat and member of Iraq's majority Shia community, he offers firsthand accounts of the meetings and discussions he and other Iraqi opponents to Saddam held with American and British diplomats from 1991 to 2004. Drawn from al-Bayati's personal archives of meeting minutes and correspondence, From Dictatorship to Democracy takes readers through the history of the opposition. We learn the views and actions of principal figures, such as SCIRI head Sayyid Mohammed Baqir Al-Hakeem and the other leaders of the Iraqi National Congress, Ahmed Chalabi and his Kurdish counterparts, Masound Barzani and Jalal Talabani. Al-Bayati vividly captures their struggle to unify in the face of not only Saddam's harsh and bloody repression but also an unresponsive and unmotivated international community. Al-Bayati's efforts in the months before and after the U.S. invasion also put him in direct contact with key U.S. figures such as Zalmay Khalilzad and L. Paul Bremer and at the center of the debates over returning Iraq to self-government quickly and creating the foundation for a secure and stable state. Al-Bayati was both eyewitness to and actor in the dramatic struggle to remove Saddam from power. In this unique historical document, he provides detailed recollections of his work on behalf of a democratic Iraq that reflect the hopes and frustrations of the Iraqi people.