Influence of Ideology on State Building in Iraq: Analysis of Political Crisis and Interventions

Running head: IDEOLOGY AND STATE BUILDING
Influence of Ideology on the State Building Program of Iraq
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1IDEOLOGY AND STATE BUILDING
As opined by Wozniak (2017), ideology can be defined as a set of arguments or ideas
which form the central lacuna of the different political as well as economic theories or
policies. Pugh, Cooper and Turner (2016) have articulated the viewpoint that the different
kinds of ideologies since the traditional times have dictated the course of human actions and
also the activities undertaken by them. More importantly, various entities like the religious,
cultural, social, political, economical and other factors influence the ideologies held by the
people and also the manner in which it is being used by the individuals (Curtis and Sindre
2019). One of the most important roles that the different ideologies have played since the
traditional times belongs to the genre of state building. However, at the same time it needs to
be said that the ideologies which were used by the individuals and also the diverse nations for
the purpose of state building were motivated by various factors like personal needs, security
needs, war needs and others (Whiteside 2016). In this regard, it needs to be said that Daniel
Bell’s famous book “The End of Ideology” (1962) argues that the impact of ideologies on
modern societies is waning because of the impact of modernization and the entity of
pragmatism currently dominates the political system as well as the state building process
(Dodge 2017). Political ideologies have impacted the state building program in a significant
manner in the crisis hit nation of Iraq. This essay will explore the manner in which ideology
has impacted the state building process in Iraq.
Iraq is a nation which is located in Western Asia and is known for the large number of
oil and gas wells that it boasts of (O'Driscoll and van Zoonen 2017). The majority of the
population of the nation is composed of people related to Islamic faith with a handful of
people belonging to other religious sects like Christianity, Hinduism and others (Hummel
2016). However, the political system of the nation is being controlled by the Muslim people
and its current Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi (Mansour 2017). Furthermore, the nation was
the home to the notorious terrorist Saddam Hussein and his organization al-Qaeda, which in

2IDEOLOGY AND STATE BUILDING
the present times is called by the name of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) (Pugh
2017). More importantly, the nation in the contemporary times is facing severe political crisis
which is comparable to the one faced by Syria over the years. In this regard, it needs to be
said that currently the nation is being controlled by the Shiite Arab majority, and Sunni Arabs
who once formed the backbone of the Saddam Hussein’s al-Qaeda (Isakhan 2016). The end
result of this is that unemployment is at an all-time high in the nation and this has resulted in
various kinds of political struggles as well as turmoil which in turn had given rise to various
kinds of bloody battles in the nation (Mirahmadi 2016). This in turn had placed the nation
among the crisis hit Middle nations and also as one of the most politically unstable nations of
the world. Thus, the various first nations like United States of America, Canada, United
Kingdom, Russia and others had to intervene in the political affairs of the nation under
discussion although each of them had their own inherent or latent motivates behind their
intervention.
Cohen et al. (2018) have articulated the viewpoint that the conservative religious
ideologies of the people of Iraq have played an integral role in the present sordid state of Iraq.
For example, it is seen that the people of Iraq even in the 21st century try to lead their lives as
per the precepts of Koran and other Islamic religious texts (Paasche 2016). This has given
rise to a very conservative society in the nation under discussion wherein militant rule is the
order of the day. However, it is seen that these conservative ideas held by the ruling or the
governing fractions of the nation are not in synchronicity with the ideologies held by the
minority sections of the population of the nation and this had given rise to the current
political crisis in the nation (Hashim 2018). Thus, there is a need for state building programs
in the nation so as to restore the status quo of the nation and also to offer the kind of
environment to the citizens of the nation wherein they would be able to fulfill the basic
psychosocial needs of theirs and also to lead their lives to the fullest. However, the