000			01746 a2200169 4500
999			_c25865 _d25865
020			_a9780190843311
082			_a322.10956709049 _bHEL-C
100			_aHelfont, Samuel
245			_aCompulsion in religion _bSaddam Hussein, Islam, and the roots of insurgencies in Iraq
260			_bOxford University Press _c2018 _aNew York
300			_aix, 290p.
504			_aInclude Bibliography and Index
520			_aSamuel Helfont draws on extensive research with Ba'thist archives to investigate the roots of the religious insurgencies that erupted in Iraq following the American-led invasion in 2003. In looking at Saddam Hussein's policies in the 1990s, many have interpreted his support for state-sponsored religion as evidence of a dramatic shift away from Arab nationalism toward political Islam. While Islam did play a greater role in the regime's symbols and Saddam's statements in the 1990s than it had in earlier decades, the regime's internal documents challenge this theory. The "Faith Campaign" Saddam launched during this period was the culmination of a plan to use religion for political ends, begun upon his assumption of the Iraqi presidency in 1979. At this time, Saddam began constructing the institutional capacity to control and monitor Iraqi religious institutions. The resulting authoritarian structures allowed him to employ Islamic symbols and rhetoric in public policy, but in a controlled manner. Saddam ultimately promoted a Ba'thist interpretation of religion that subordinated it to Arab nationalism, rather than depicting it as an independent or primary political identity.
546			_a
650			_aPolitics and government _vHussein, Saddam, 1937-2006 _vIslam and state _vIslam and politic _zIraq
942			_2ddc _cBK