From Recognition to Redistribution? Protest Movements in Iraq in the Age of ‘New Civil Society’

Abstract

Based on in-depth fieldwork, this article explores protest movements in Iraq drawing on theorizations on NGOization, civil society and social movements. I situate the protests within the country's social, political and economic contexts. Then, I look at women and youth's involvement showing the importance to consider the traumatic experience of sectarian and political violence to understand their organizing and demands. I argue that Iraqis have experienced the collapse of a strong authoritarian welfare centralized state, a process that started in the 1990s and was accelerated by the 2003 US invasion. Thus, instead of neoliberal politics, the country has experienced ‘shock doctrines’ with aggressive privatizations coupled with exacerbated militarization.