Post-ISIL reconciliation in Iraq and the local anatomy of national grievances: the case of Yathrib

Watkins, Jessica and Hasan, Mustafa (2022) Post-ISIL reconciliation in Iraq and the local anatomy of national grievances: the case of Yathrib. Peacebuilding, 10 (3). pp. 335-350. ISSN 2164-7259

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Abstract

The incentive for international agencies to promote ‘local’ peacebuilding is commonly premised on the hope that micro-level interventions can nourish grassroots activism and participatory citizenship. Tracing reconciliation processes across Iraq following the defeat of ISIL provides a window through which to view the transactional relationships between ‘national’ and ‘local’ forms of politics, conflict and peace in post-Ba’athist Iraq. This paper focuses on the example of Yathrib, Salah al-Din Province, where over ninety per cent of residents were displaced in 2014, and an estimated eighty-five per cent subsequently returned following peace negotiations. The paper uses qualitative interview findings to demonstrate on the one hand that seemingly ‘local’ tribal solutions are built into national-level ‘peace strategies’, while on the other, state capture and power politics is infused into the management of apparently parochial disputes. While these observations are not an indictment of international efforts to intervene at the subnational level, they serve to thoroughly ‘de-romanticise’ the local.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rpcb20/current
Additional Information:	© 2021 The Authors
Divisions:	International Relations
Subjects:	J Political Science > JZ International relations H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
Date Deposited:	09 Jun 2021 11:03
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 02:33
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/110791

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