Iraq 2014–2017: Obama and the Banality of Killing

2020 ◽  
pp. 145-180
Author(s):  
Lily Hamourtziadou

The 2014-2017 period is explored through discussions on the nature and role of the Islamic State, notions of war and peace, tyranny and democracy, captivity and liberation, in the context of political and security developments. The chapter raises questions regarding the impact of the Islamic State, as well as the impact of the way the coalition has countered the terror. Precision bombing, the Arab Spring, the Islamic State and the rise in civilian deaths are presented as factors contributing to the state of human security in Iraq. As a generation of Iraqis had, by 2017, grown up in occupation, terrorism, insurgency and western support, as the body count rose and national, regional and global security in this War on Terror once again took top position on our security agenda, how was the human security of Iraqis assured by this support?

Author(s):  
Jeff Haynes

This chapter explores the relationship between religion and politics. It first defines the concept of religion before discussing its contemporary political and social salience in many developing countries. It then considers how religion interacts with politics and with the state in the developing world, as well as how religion is involved in democratization in the developing world by focusing on the Arab Spring and its aftermath. It also examines the differing impacts of the so-called Islamic State and Pope Francis on the relationship between religion and politics in the developing world. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the role of religion in international politics after 9/11.


Author(s):  
Arie M. Kacowicz ◽  
Galia Press-Barnathan

The Middle East is often considered a war zone, and it rarely comes to mind as a region that includes cases of peaceful change. Yet several examples of peaceful change can be identified at different levels of analysis: international, regional, interactive, and domestic. This chapter first critically examines the impact of the broader global/systemic level of analysis on the prospects for peaceful change. It then moves to examine the regional level of analysis, exploring the Kurdish question and the Arab-Israeli conflict as a central axis of change, the role of the Arab League, and the case of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The chapter then examines the interactive, bilateral level of analysis, exploring peaceful territorial change in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict, with reference to the successful Israeli-Egyptian negotiations of 1977–1979 and the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process since 1993. Next, it explores the domestic level of analysis, focusing on domestic politics, the nature of ruling coalitions, and the implications of the domestic turmoil of the Arab Spring. The last section draws conclusions from each level of analysis, with implications about the prospects for peaceful change in the region.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 5843
Author(s):  
Chloé Turpin ◽  
Aurélie Catan ◽  
Olivier Meilhac ◽  
Emmanuel Bourdon ◽  
François Canonne-Hergaux ◽  
...  

The development and progression of atherosclerosis (ATH) involves lipid accumulation, oxidative stress and both vascular and blood cell dysfunction. Erythrocytes, the main circulating cells in the body, exert determinant roles in the gas transport between tissues. Erythrocytes have long been considered as simple bystanders in cardiovascular diseases, including ATH. This review highlights recent knowledge concerning the role of erythrocytes being more than just passive gas carriers, as potent contributors to atherosclerotic plaque progression. Erythrocyte physiology and ATH pathology is first described. Then, a specific chapter delineates the numerous links between erythrocytes and atherogenesis. In particular, we discuss the impact of extravasated erythrocytes in plaque iron homeostasis with potential pathological consequences. Hyperglycaemia is recognised as a significant aggravating contributor to the development of ATH. Then, a special focus is made on glycoxidative modifications of erythrocytes and their role in ATH. This chapter includes recent data proposing glycoxidised erythrocytes as putative contributors to enhanced atherothrombosis in diabetic patients.


2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 383-398
Author(s):  
David S Scott

Although sport is widely utilised as a tool for personal development, capacity building, and fostering peace, there are still numerous theoretical gaps in our knowledge about how sport influences individuals’ identities, and how this translates into their everyday lives. Within the academic literature there has been seemingly little focus placed upon participants’ emotional and embodied accounts of their sport-for-development (SfD) experiences. This paper uses phenomenologically-inspired theory to explore individuals’ lived experiences of a SfD course, and their descriptions of the social interactions and feelings of confidence they encountered, in order to address this lack of experiential data. An ethnographic methodology was used to collect data through four sports leadership course observations, and cyclical interviews over 4–10 months with eleven course attendees, plus individual interviews with five tutors. Participants’ understandings of their course experiences and the subsequent influence these understandings had on their lives were described through their use of the term confidence. A further phenomenological and sociological interrogation of this term enabled confidence to be seen as being experienced as a ‘frame’ and ‘through the body’ by participants. This study provides original conceptualisations of confidence in relation to participants’ SfD experiences, as well as important discussions regarding the role of emotions and embodiment in understanding the impact of SfD on participants’ everyday lives.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Christine Reid

The study of animals in Shakespeare’s collected works has expanded over the last 30 years. While a number of different animals have been discussed, the importance of the worm in the larger scope of the canon has largely been ignored. By focusing on the perception and presentation of worms in relation to cultural ideas of death, corruption, and consumption, ideas surrounding the body and soul are brought to the forefront. Worms are integral to our understanding of the Early Modern cultural constructs of the body and soul as the presence of worms reveals the state of the individual or the broader environment. Overall, the depiction of worms in Shakespeare’s works serves as a way to understand the metaphysical processes surrounding death and corruption.


2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 516-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefka Hristova

In analyzing the deployment of biomertics in Iraq, argue that whereas the body was seen as a site of verification in 20th century surveillance and identification practices, in the ongoing War on Terror, and the Iraq War more specifically, it became a site of veridiction - a site in which the truth about the security of the state can be analyzed (Foucault 2008:32). The body thus became the basis for determining not so much one’s unique identity but one’s friendliness to the normative state order. Enemies could thus be identified and confined as a group, and in this process the state could be secured. In the ongoing of the War on Terror, the visual regime of veridiction has been further articulated to the logic of digital technologies in order to categorize an unfamiliar diverse population into a binary simplistic schema consistent of true and false, therefore friend or foe, and thus “go” - allowed to move through the country or “no go” - destined to be detained. In other words, the digitization of veridiction as the primary goal of biometrics is evident in the automation of the recognition method, the conversion of the archive into database, the transition away from the anthropological station onto mobile dispersed data-gathering enterprise, and replacement of scientific expertise with easy-to-use automated intelligence.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-71
Author(s):  
Marta Stempień

Nasheeds outpace the era of Internet and Youtube. Jihadist poetry in the Islamist hymns can be seen as an extension of the 19th-century anticolonial style of poetry called qaseeda. Presented article shows that nasheeds were not always a significant element in the jihadi culture. The increase of their role was observed quite recently, after the outbreak of the “Arab Spring”. This article is a case study. It attempts to fill a gap in research on the IS’s propaganda materials. The major objective of this article is to investigate the phenomenon of jihadist naseeds, including their role in the ‘jihadi culture’. The author seeks to answer to the question whether the presented facts may indicate the increase in their role occurred with the transfer of IS’ activities to cyberspace and whether it will be intensified in the future. The article takes into account historical conditions, briefly describing the genesis of the naseeds and their proliferation after the events of the “Arab Spring”. Then, using systemic analysis, the author presents their role in the activities of the Islamic State. In addition, theoretical and empirical research methods, such as: scientific literature analysis, case analysis, content analysis, classification, generalization were taken to solve the research problem.


Author(s):  
Serhii O. Komnatnyi ◽  
Oleg S. Sheremet ◽  
Viacheslav E. Suslykov ◽  
Kateryna S. Lisova ◽  
Stepan D. Svorak

The article deals with the mechanism of impact of sociopsychological phenomena such as the national character and the political mentality in the construction and functioning of civil society. It aims to show the impact of climate, religion, and the perception of happiness on the state of civil society through details of a national nature. The main research method is to compare data from global research on the state of civil society with data from climatic conditions, dominant religions, and happiness indices. The article proves coincidently that these factors are reflected in such essential characteristics of civil society as "openness" and "closed-mindedness". The interaction between the national character and the construction of civil society has two stages. It is concluded that the results obtained are important to evaluate the prospects for the construction and development of civil society in different countries and regions of the world. Further research in this direction involves the study of other aspects of the impact of national character and political mindset on the functioning of civil society.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-23
Author(s):  
Mohammed Enab

Bayt al-mal is one of the important architectural innovations that characterized the Islamic civilization. It represents the treasury of the Islamic State, which preserves the various financial resources of the State. The Bayt al-mal appeared in the era of the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him), and its layout was simple reflects the simplicity of Islam. Its location was inside the mosque or adjacent to it. Bayt al-mal developed with the expansion of the Islamic State and the Islamic conquests, and it has a special called Diwan Bayt al-mal. Domes were built in mosques as one of the branches and sections of the Bayt al-mal. These domes were dedicated to preserving the different funds of the endowments and places. The location of these domes was in the great mosques' courtyard. They rise from the courtyard's surface and based on eight columns. These domes appeared especially in Umayyad mosques in Syria and Palestine. Then they spread in most countries in the east and west of the Islamic world. This research deals with the concept of the Bayt al-mal; its names, origin, architectural development, and the reasons to build them. This research also studies the dimension of jurisprudence in the building of these domes. It used an analytical study of the architectural shape of these domes and studies the impact of functional dimension on the form and plan of these domes. This study shows the remaining examples of these domes in Islamic mosques and mentions some examples of the extinct ones.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-103
Author(s):  
Farelle Yandza Ikahaud ◽  
Mohamed El Haddad

Investment determines the sustainability and prosperity of an economy. The paper seeks to (1) give an overview of the roles of companies on the stability of the financial system, based on existing theoretical and empirical work; and (2) to highlight the reasons which expose them to the non-application of their duties against the State. For this purpose, a bibliometric analysis using the Direct Science database was employed. The results of the analysis allowed us to study the search trend by analyzing the distribution of publications, authors, types of publications and fields of research and also showed that the themes of the study are of great scientific interest because of the surge in the number of publications on the role of companies over the last ten years averaging 76.3 per year while 1,690 were on the impact of company behaviour on the stability of the financial system.


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