Social Structure and Relationships

In Iraqi society, there are effectively three classes: the higher class, composed of well-known, influential families; the middle class, composed of government employees, prosperous merchants, the military, and so on; and the lower class, composed of peasants and laborers.

Whatever the class, the most powerful unit in Arab (and Kurdish) society is the extended family or tribe. Throughout the history of the area, tribal leaders have wielded immense power; federations of tribal sheikhs who have the popular support of their families have proved, time and time again, to have more local, practical power than urban or government forces.

Arabs and Kurds

Enmity and distrust between the Arabs and the Kurds in Iraq have existed for centuries, despite the fact that both groups are by and large Muslim and have many other points in common. This ill will has traditionally existed between the various ruling governments and the Kurdish communities and has been increased by frequent alliances between the Kurds and the southern Iraqi (Shi'ite) Arabs.

After World War I, the Western countries divided up the Ottoman Empire into the countries we know today, and at one point considered consolidating the area in which the Kurds have always lived into a separate Kurdish state. The demands of the neighboring states overrode the desires of the Kurds, however, and the Kurdish homeland now constitutes parts of Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and the newly-independent state of Azerbaijan.

The Kurds, especially those in Iraq, have a very strong sense of national unity, and from time to time have pushed for an independent Kurdistan. This has made the countries housing them extremely uneasy. Iraq has been particularly nervous about Kurdish desires for independence, mostly because the land on which the Kurds have always lived includes Iraq's most productive oil fields. Since Desert Storm, the enmity between the Iraqi government and the Kurds has been exacerbated, and the government's treatment of the Kurds has received attention in the international press.

Sunnis and Shi'ites

Another source of conflict in Iraq has been the tension between the Sunni and Shi'ite sects of Islam. (The basis for the difference between these sects is discussed in the section on religion.) The Shi'ites are a decided minority in the Islamic world as a whole, comprising maybe one-twelfth of the total Islamic population, but Iraq, along with Iran, is the center of the sect, and over half of Iraqis are Shi'ites. Throughout modern times, however, the ruling classes in Iraq have been Sunni, and so there was always the rub that the less advantaged sect constituted the majority of the population. The antagonism between the sects lessened considerably during the Iran–Iraq war, when the Iraqi Shi'ites remained loyal to Iraq despite the fact that there is a sizable percentage of Shi'ites in Iran (many Iraqi Shi'ites have relatives in Iran) and the Iranian government is Shi'ite. Since Desert Storm, however, the antagonism has risen again.

Urban Iraqis and the Ma'dan

There has also been no love lost between the Shi'ite Marsh Arabs and the urban Sunni Iraqis. The urban Iraqis consider the Ma'dan to be backward and primitive, while the Ma'dan in turn consider the urban Iraqis untrustworthy and irreligious.

The Government and the Assyrians

As a minority, the Assyrians have had their share of problems with the various governments in Iraq. In the '30s, for example, the Iraqi army killed hundreds of them and caused several thousand of them to relocate to an area in Syria sponsored by the League of Nations. Assyrians have frequently called on international bodies and other governments to help them redress their wrongs. These attempts have not endeared the Assyrians to the powers in Iraq.

In short, Iraq has never been a region of harmony. Traditional tensions are now made worse by the effects of the worldwide embargo against Iraq, which has generated great hardships throughout the country. The Sunni–Shi'ite schism, which appeared to lessen during the Iran–Iraq war, has escalated since Desert Storm, as the Shi'ite families in the south have taken advantage of the disarray of the Iraqi army to rebel against the regime, and the regime has retaliated with wholesale destruction of their lands. The embargoes have hurt the emerging urban middle class and given rise to a (still largely hidden) resentment among them against the current regime, whose policies caused the embargoes.

The Cultural Orientation Project--http://www.culturalorientation.net, for more information contact sanja@cal.org
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