Beyond structure and agency: rethinking political identities in Iraq after 2003

Dodge, Toby ORCID: 0000-0003-1262-4921 (2020) Beyond structure and agency: rethinking political identities in Iraq after 2003. Nations and Nationalism, 26 (1). 108 - 122. ISSN 1354-5078

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Abstract

This paper examines ethno-symbolic and instrumental explanations of ethnic and sectarian identities placed within the constructivist turn in the study of political identity, both in the abstract and how they have been deployed to explain the increasing contemporary influence of ethnosectarian mobilisation in Iraq and the wider Middle East. The paper identifies explanatory value in these approaches but finds their focus on either ideational structures or individual rationality too narrow to provide a comprehensive explanation of what happened to political identities in Iraq after 2003. Instead, the paper deploys what can be termed a ‘Bourdieusian method’, in an attempt to get beyond the polarities of structure and agency. It uses Bourdieu's conceptions of political field, principles of vision and division and symbolic violence to understand the influence that de-Ba'athification, the creation of the Muhasasa Ta'ifia or sectarian apportionment system and national elections had on political identities in Iraq since the 2003 invasion.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14698129
Additional Information:	© 2019 The Author
Divisions:	International Relations
Subjects:	J Political Science > JZ International relations J Political Science > JC Political theory
Date Deposited:	29 Nov 2019 14:33
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 02:00
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/102711

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