International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies - Volume 8, Issue 2-3, 2014

In his analysis of a professional association and its tactics, John McCumber’s Time in the Ditch asserts, ‘American philosophy during the McCarthy era seems to have confronted difficulties well beyond those faced by other disciplines’. In response, Lewis Gordon developed a thesis around what he called a ‘teleological suspension of disciplinarity’, a willingness to go beyond disciplines in the production of knowledge. During the Cold War, ‘Alī al-Wardī completed his training at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned two graduate degrees. This article addresses al-Wardī’s early work in a series of historical and regional perspectives: first, referring to C. Wright Mills as a model for a ‘Texas sociologist’; second, identifying Sociology Department faculty members whom al-Wardī thanked in his thesis; and, through them, revealing a network of scholarship and activism identified with Cold War Texas.

In an effort to situate Ali al-Wardi’s larger body of scholarship, this article places him within his Iraqi and international intellectual milieu, highlighting the role of his book Preachers of the Sultan for its grounding of his later works, while at the same time asserting the seriousness with which he took the scholar’s role as an activist to bring knowledge to the public by which to better inform the grounding for, and exercise of, democratic politics. In particular, it highlights the empirical grounding al-Wardi captured through his explication of the Iraqi ‘split personality’ (izdiwajiyyah) as well as the unique role preachers play in dividing the social community through the justification of political power and promotion of sectarianism.

This article is a study of Ali al-Wardi’s understanding of democracy in general and its feasibility in Iraq. It also attempts to clarify al-Wardi’s position on the problems and obstacles that democracy faces in a society characterized by violence vis-à-vis a state that is weakened due to the dominance of the Bedouin nature of society. The article also aims to study the problems surrounding the application of democracy, according to al-Wardi, in a community which lacks the tradition and understanding of the basic values of a liberal-democratic state. Al-Wardi focused on the question of whether the political changes which occurred in Iraq during the monarchical era (1921–1958) or in the republican era (from 1958) impacted the sociological nature of Iraqi society. Can democracy be applied without democrats? Is it possible to establish a functioning democracy in a society that hates the state? There is no doubt that al-Wardi played an important role in analysing and understanding the reality of Iraqi society and how it had yet to incorporate the values and processes of democracy in its own culture.

Based on Ali al-Wardi’s theoretical innovations, the article investigates the relatively new phenomena of the rentier state and society in Iraq as well as the ongoing political conflict between the different social groups and confessions as a battle about economic and financial resources related to the oil economy and to rent seeking. The discourse also highlights the issue of social justice accomplished by al-Wardi as a core socio-economic problem since the early period of Islam and influencing the political and confessional conflicts throughout the history of Iraq. Al-Wardi presented a great vision on plurality of society and how to build a multicultural, multi-ethnic nation in Iraq.

Cet article se penche sur le thème de la personnalité de base traité dans la littérature sociologique, anthropologique et psychologique du monde arabe. Le but recherché est de comprendre comment les chercheurs arabes ont appliqué ce concept forgé par l’école culturaliste américaine dans leurs contextes nationaux respectifs. Une comparaison du livre d’Ali al-Wardi La personnalité de l’individu irakien à une sélection d’ouvrages et d’articles écrits par des auteurs libanais comme Jean Salem, Mounir Chamoun et Joseph Mouwanès restreint l’angle d’observation à deux pays arabes à savoir l’Irak et le Liban. Un rapprochement systématique entre ces différents travaux dégage leurs similitudes et leurs dissemblances. Les expressions ou les termes utilisés pour désigner la personnalité de base comme « personnalité de l’individu irakien », « peuple libanais », etc., sont identifiés. Le répertoire des principales sources théoriques occidentales ou arabes et le mode de leur d’application sont établis. La démarche méthodologique et les résultats obtenus sont analysés.

This article is a critical assessment of Ali al-Wardi’s thoughts informed by the author’s conversations with al-Wardi some twenty years ago. It is an attempt to revisit al-Wardi’s work on the study of the Iraqi personality and society so as to build on his early seminal theses, complementing his courage and personal commitments. In homage to al-Wardi’s legacy, the author feels that a critical evaluation is essential to keeping the work that builds on this legacy vigorous and relevant. The author concludes by saying that ‘most of the groundbreaking ideas which were influential to contemporary Arab political thought were from his very early academic output’. However, the challenges of today’s Iraq are not far removed from those of al-Wardi’s time.

This article positions the critical ideas of Ali al-Wardi on Iraqi society in general and its personality in particular, both its contradictions and duality between Bedouin and urban natures. The author maintains that these characteristics became much more relevant after the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq, which released the repressed tendencies of the Iraqi personality. The resurgence of these tendencies is reflected in the expressions of violence and terrorism which beset Iraq today. The author concludes by saying ‘we have to understand our reality […] and critically evaluate what is negative about ourselves [Iraqis]. We have to re-examine our intellectual discourse, social behaviour and political orientations.’ The author calls upon Iraqis to look at al-Wardi’s analysis of Iraq’s history in order to move forward.

Ever since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, there has been a widely shared public perception in the United Kingdom and beyond that the British government lied in making the case for war. One major theme has been the view that the Blair government lied about the strength of the intelligence about alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the extent of the WMD capabilities claimed by that intelligence. A second theme that has received less attention has been the view that the Blair government lied in claiming that its actions at the United Nations (UN) were aimed at securing peaceful Iraqi compliance with its disarmament obligations. Instead, most think that the United Kingdom was actually committed to a policy of regime change by force and did not want the ‘UN route’ to produce a peaceful outcome. The article argues that the conceptual focus of the discussion needs to be broadened from lying to also considering deception by omission and deception by distortion as part of a campaign of organized political persuasion. It argues that, on the WMD intelligence, it is now apparent that a campaign of deceptive organized political persuasion was conducted by UK officials. With respect to the UN route, there is mounting evidence that the Blair government ran a campaign of deception on this issue as well in order to pave Britain’s road to war in Iraq.

Ali al-Wardi’s contribution to America’s understanding of Iraq

Understanding Iraq: Society, Culture and Personality, Ali al-Wardi (trans. F. Baali) ([1965] 2008) Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 129 pp. ISBN 978 0773451209 (hbk), $189.00.

Iraq in Turmoil: Historical Perspectives of Dr. Ali al-Wardi, From the Ottoman Empire to King Feisal, Youseff Aboul-Enien (ed.) (2012) Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 224 pp. ISBN 978 1612510774 (hbk), $32.95.