The changes brought by the Arab Spring and ensuing developments in the Middle East have made the Kurds an important force in the region. Tel-Aviv and Washington place high hopes on Erbil to facilitate their dealings with Baghdad, Damascus, Teheran and Ankara. Kurds living in Turkey, Syria and Iran have been inspired by the successes of their brethren in Iraq who managed to gain significant independence and make remarkable achievements in state building. The idea of a greater Kurdistan is in the air.
This book focuses on how the Kurds have become a new and significant force in Middle Eastern politics. International expert contributors conceptualize current developments putting them into theoretical perspective, helping us to better understand the potential role the Kurds could play in the Middle East.
Introduction
PART I: SOUL SEARCHING
Chapter 1: Learning from History: Kurdish Nationalism and State-Building Efforts
Anwar Anaid
Chapter 2: New Horizons: Iraqi Federalism
Alex Danilovich
Chapter 3: Rebels without a Cause? A Historicist Analysis of Iraqi Kurdistan’s Political and Economic Development and Prospects for Independence
Nigel Greaves
Chapter 4: Erecting Buildings, Erecting a State: Public Perception of Kurdish Statehood
Umut Kuruuzum
PART II: IRAQI KURDISTAN IN MIDDLE EASTERN POLITICS
Chapter 5: Oil, the Kurds and the Drive for Independence: An Ace in the Hole or Joker in the Pack?
Francis Owtram
Chapter 6: Kurdistan’s Independence and the International System of Sovereign States
Ryan D. Griffiths
Chapter 7: Turkey and the Iraqi Kurdistan Federal Region: Bonds of Friendship
Sara Salahaddin Mustafa and Sardar Aziz
Chapter 8: The Kurdish Issue on the USA Foreign Policy Agenda
Paula Pineda
Biography
Alex Danilovich lectures in Comparative Politics at the University of Kurdistan-Hawler in Iraq. He is the author of Russian-Belarusian Integration: Playing Games Behind the Kremlin Walls (Ashgate 2006) and Iraqi Federalism and the Kurds: Learning to Live Together (Ashgate 2014) and is co-author of Kazakhstan: Contemporary Politics (EastBridge 2009).
