This dissertation contends that a revolutionary situation built up in Iraq during the last decade of the monarchic system. Opposition to constraints on civil rights, close ties with Britain, accession to the Baghdad Pact, the semi-feudal economic system in rural areas, and the plight of the unemployed in the slums of the big cities fanned revolutionary sentiments in Iraq during the monarchic era. The ambitious development program financed with Iraq’s considerable oil revenues did not address these problems, however, since the program focused on large-scale and long-term projects which did not rapidly improve the situation of the poorer strata of the population. Furthermore, external events such as the formation of the Baghdad Pact in 1955 and the Suez Crisis of 1956 directly fueled anti-regime sentiments in Iraq, since students and intellectuals contended that the monarchy’s foreign policy had contributed to these events and isolated Iraq from its Arabs neighbors. The regime managed to remain in power, however, through heavyhanded suppression of any public manifestation of political opposition. This left the army the only force in Iraqi society capable of effectuating change. The regime was convinced of the army’s complete loyalty and therefore made the mistake to dismiss intelligence on coup plans. This dissertation further argues that the Free Officers coup of July 14, 1958, was the initial phase of a social, economic, political, and psychological revolution. The fact that Baghdadis took to the streets in massive numbers on the morning of July 14 shows strong popular support for and participation in the Free Officers coup. The foreign and economic policies of the new regimes also constituted a revolutionary departure from those of the monarchy. Furthermore, the new government declared that Iraq’s foreign policy would be based on the principle of neutralism, and that its economic policy would eliminate the semi-feudal system in the rural areas to build an equitable society. Iraq’s decision not to withdraw from the Baghdad Pact and not to nationalize the Iraq Petroleum Company was made for security reasons, and did not signify a continuation of the policies of the previous regime. / text

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This thesis deals with the political role of the Shi`te ulama in Iraq between the British invasion of 1914 and the expulsion of leading Shi`ite mujtahids from Iraq by King Fayṣal I in 1924. The thesis argues that the conception of identity propagated by the Shi`te mujtahids underwent a transformation during this period. Whereas the mujtahids stressed the need for Islamic unity and encouraged an Iraqi national identity in the early years of this period, in later years some of them formulated a sect-based Iraqi Shi`ite identity in response to discrimination in favour of Sunnis by the monarchy.

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To Iraq, her relationship with Britain has been a factor of major importance for the greater part of this century. At times, the connection has been particularly close, especially between 1914 and the end of the Mandate in 1932, and during the Second World War, when British forces once again occupied the country. Until recently, Britain was Iraq's most important ally, and is still her major trading partner. This thesis examines Anglo-Iraqi relations during the Occupation and Mandate periods, and attempts to assess their effect on the political and socio-economic life of the country.

This thesis is a theory-proposing and theory-testing study that examines the conditions of state survival in the Middle East. In contrast to the predominant Political Culture and Political Economy approaches, which focus on domestic factors to account for state survival in the Middle East, this thesis suggests that, more than the individual characteristics of states themselves, state survival in that region is a function of the anarchic state system. This thesis examines states as a ‘process’ situating them in time and place. It shows that Middle Eastern states are at once in the early phases of state formation as well as late comers to the international state system. This ontological status contributes to the vulnerability of these states to systematic forces, which in turn shapes their internal development. A major dilemma facing the late-forming state is between regime survival and political incorporation. The first part of this thesis examines the literatures on the state, the Middle East state, and state survival. The second part proposes a Historical Structuralism model and then examines the ontology of the state in the Middle East, specifying the conditions and variables of state survival. The third part presents an empirical examination of the cases of Saudi Arabia and Iraq.