En l’absence d’autorité nationale, la majorité du peuple kurde a vécu selon un mode d’organisation social tribal régi par des coutumes. C’est donc en prenant les coutumes des sociétés tribales des Barzani comme exemple que nous allons montrer en quoi la coutume est le fondement de toute société tribale kurde. La confédération tribale Barzani regroupe sous son nom sept tribus (les Chérwâni, les Baroji, les Mazouri, les Dolamari, les Nazâri, les Harki-Bénagi et les Gardi) et est gérée par les cheikhs du village de Barzan, tout au nord du Kurdistan Irakien. La coutume des Barzani comprend l’ensemble des normes à la fois à l’origine des coutumes des Kurdes tribaux en général mais également les règles coutumières qui se sont développées selon l’évolution des conditions socio- économiques sous l’impact religieux des cheikhs de Barzan.Le mode de fonctionnement du pouvoir des cheikhs qui se donne pour objectif de garantir l’autonomie et la survie de la société tribale en s’appuyant sur la coutume et des principes de justice et de fraternité nous permet d’affirmer que la société tribale des Barzani peut être éventuellement comparée à un État.Parmi les Barzani le lien de parenté fondé sur la filiation patrilinéaire joue un rôle principal dans la vie sociale. La lignée avec à sa tête un chef est le segment le plus important dans un village et correspond à une unité du groupe agnatique composé de plusieurs familles. Au sein d’une lignée, les Barbes blanches, de par leur sagesse et leur grande connaissance des règles coutumières, sont respectées. Au sein de la famille de nature patriarcale, le père avait un pouvoir absolu sur les membres et les biens de sa famille. Une femme devait obéir à son mari, en respecter le prestige et la renommée notamment en faisant de l’hospitalité une valeur de la famille. De plus, la fidélité d’une femme envers son mari et la pureté des filles représentaient l’honneur de la famille. / In the absence of national authority, the majority of the Kurdish people live according to a familiar pattern of a social organisation governed by customs. Therefore, by taking the traditions of the Barzani tribal communities as an example; we will show how custom is the foundation of Kurdish tribal society.The tribal confederation of Barzani is made up of seven tribes (the Sherwani, the Baroji, the Mazouri, the Dolamari, the Nazari, the Harki-Benagi and the Gardi) which is managed by the sheikhs of the village of Barzan, in the far north of Iraqi Kurdistan.The custom of the Barzanis includes all tribal and societal norms which derive from the customs of tribes in general; and in particular, the customary rules developed according to the evolution of the socio-economic conditions under the religious impact of Barzani sheikhs.The functioning mode of sheikh’s powers aims to guarantee the autonomy and survival of tribal society, based on custom and the principles of justice and fraternity. Hence, it allows us to argue that the tribal society of Barzani can be compared to a state.Barzani kinship based on patrilineal descent plays a significant role in social life. The lineage headed by a chief is the most important segment in a village and corresponds to a unit of the agnatic group composed of several families. In a lineage, White Beards are considered to have the vast knowledge of customary rules and wisdom; henceforth, they are highly respected. The family was patriarchal, and the father had absolute power over the members and property of his family. A woman had to obey her husband and respect prestige and fame, primarily by making hospitality a family value. Besides, the fidelity of a woman to her husband and the purity of girls being the family's honour.

En 2005, après la chute du régime baassiste de Saddam Hussein, les autorités irakiennes, mises en place par la Coalition menée par les États-Unis, ont instauré en Irak un nouveau régime démocratique, parlementaire et fédéral, et adopté la première Constitution permanente du pays depuis la fin de la monarchie en 1958. Le système fédéral ne s’applique encore aujourd’hui qu’à une seule entité fédérée : la région du Kurdistan d’Irak, qui trouve dans ce régime une autonomie de jure succédant à l’indépendance de facto acquise quatorze ans plus tôt lors de la Deuxième guerre du Golfe. La démocratie pourra-t-elle être appliquée à un pays empreint de la culture arabo-musulmane et encore marqué par près de quatre décennies de dictature ? Le fédéralisme est-il la réponse aux divisions ethniques et religieuses profondément ancrées dans la société irakienne, en particulier entre les Arabes chiites, les Arabes sunnites et les Kurdes ? Saura-t-il constituer une solution capable de satisfaire les ambitions nationales du Kurdistan d’Irak et de résoudre les conflits qui opposent ce dernier au gouvernement central irakien ? En analysant le texte de la Constitution irakienne de 2005 et le projet de Constitution de la région du Kurdistan de 2009, en examinant les institutions fédérales de l’Irak et les institutions régionales kurdes, en étudiant la répartition des pouvoirs dans le système fédéral, et à la lumière de l’évolution de l’Irak au cours des années qui se sont déjà écoulées depuis la transition, ce travail a pour ambition de déterminer la viabilité et la pertinence du régime constitutionnel fédéral pour l’Irak et pour le Kurdistan. / In 2005, after the fall of the Ba’athist regime of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi authorities, installed by the American-led coalition, inaugurated in Iraq a new democratic, parliamentary and federal regime and adopted the first permanent Constitution for the country since the end of monarchy in 1958. Today, the federal system still only applies to a single federated entity: the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, which found in this new regime de jure autonomy following a de facto independence acquired fourteen years earlier in the wake of the Second Gulf War. Can democracy be applied to a country stamped by Arab Muslim culture and scarred by almost four decades of dictatorship? Is federalism the answer to ethnic and religious divisions that are profoundly anchored in Iraqi society, in particular those between Arab shi’ites, Arab sunnis ad Kurds? Will it be a satisfactory solution for the nationalist ambitions of Kurdistan and the conflicts that oppose that region to the Iraqi central government? By analysing the text of the 2005 Iraqi Constitution and of the 2009 draft Kurdish constitution, by examining the federal institutions of Iraq and the regional institutions of Kurdistan, and in light of the evolution of the new regime since it was established, this work attempts to evaluate the viability and the pertinence of the Iraqi constitutional regime for both Iraq and Kurdistan.

<p>This is a study of the Turkish discussion on minority rights. The minority issue in Turkey was placed on the Turkish agenda in connection with intensified negotiations with the European Union on Turkish membership. The unusual and complex circumstances regarding the minority issue in Turkey makes it interesting and relevant to study this topic. The particular focus of this study is on the Kurdish minority and on the alternative discussion regarding the minority issue pursued within civil society groups and the academic sphere. The aim is to contribute to the understanding of the debate on minority rights within these groups. Interviews and collection of literature were made during a field study in Turkey in 2006. A result of this field study was the observation that there are forces working for a change in the notion of Turkish citizenship, and that the minority concept is controversial in Turkey for a number of reasons. Another observation was that the tension between assimilation and cultural identity is an important aspect of the discussion on minorities in Turkey. The Turkish debate has been contrasted to the debate on multiculturalism within political theory. This debate on multiculturalism is about how to deal with culturally diverse societies. There is one main position in favour of multiculturalism and one against. The ideas put forward in the Turkish discussion have been compared with this debate and it has been found that the Turkish discussion differs from this debate in some respects.</p>

<p>The aim of this political scientist paper is to describe and analyze the quasi state Iraqi Kurdistan 1992-2006 using the theory of Kolstö about how and why quasi states develops and the theory of Pegg regarding how the international society deal with quasi states. A qualitative case method is used. In the study the two theories are combined. Iraqi Kurdistan is used as a case to study to confirm Kolstö’s and Pegg’s theories. It’s an interesting case as it’s included in one of the most sensitive geo political areas in the world. The Kuwait war 1990 and the Second Gulf war 1991 were the incentive to Iraqi Kurdistan as a quasi state and the US invasion of Iraq 2003 was the incentive to the end of it. In conclusion the case verify the theories and the theories promote the understanding of Iraqi Kurdistan’s period as a quasi state. The goal of the quasi state Iraqi Kurdistan was to become a federal state in a federal Iraq and it succeeded.</p>

<p>I have conducted a survey of the economic sanctions on Iraq 1990-2003 and focused on how the sanctions were implemented and how economic sanctions work in practice. In particular, I have researched the objectives the United Nations had for implementing economic punishment on Iraq, how they came into use and the outcome of it in brief.</p><p>As for the million-dollar question: Were the economic sanctions on Iraq efficient and did they “work”? My opinion stands clear that economic sanctions can work in the future. The sanction policy faced major problems in Iraq, but it also disarmed the Iraqi dictator and gave more autonomous power for the Kurds in the north. They did not “work” as the world community had expected, but no one knows what the outcome would have been if the United Nations had not reacted with such determination as they did in this matter. It is easy to be wise after the event, and it is my personal wish that economic sanctions can be used in the future, as an alternative to open war, but with a lower cost in terms of civilian lives.</p>

I have conducted a survey of the economic sanctions on Iraq 1990-2003 and focused on how the sanctions were implemented and how economic sanctions work in practice. In particular, I have researched the objectives the United Nations had for implementing economic punishment on Iraq, how they came into use and the outcome of it in brief. As for the million-dollar question: Were the economic sanctions on Iraq efficient and did they “work”? My opinion stands clear that economic sanctions can work in the future. The sanction policy faced major problems in Iraq, but it also disarmed the Iraqi dictator and gave more autonomous power for the Kurds in the north. They did not “work” as the world community had expected, but no one knows what the outcome would have been if the United Nations had not reacted with such determination as they did in this matter. It is easy to be wise after the event, and it is my personal wish that economic sanctions can be used in the future, as an alternative to open war, but with a lower cost in terms of civilian lives.

The 1933 genocidal attacks on Assyrians in the Simele region defined the birth of the nascent Iraqi nation and identity. Iraq has ever been in the spotlight of ethnic and cultural strife, especially concerning Sunni-Shia animosity, and more recently in dealing with the Kurdish people and Iraqi Kurdistan. In most cases, however, the Assyrians are completely neglected from scholarship concerning Iraq and its peoples. This work reinserts the Assyrian people into the fabric of Iraq and discusses the violent and non-violent suppression of Assyrian identity and culture through genocide, cultural genocide, and ethnic cleansing. Three fundamental factors emerge from this reinsertion with respect to Iraq and genocide. First, this approach introduces an often-neglected element in Iraqi studies: the inclusion of minorities, or micro-minorities, within the existing discourse on Iraqi studies. Second, it contributes to genocide studies by examining the impact of the non-physical, or cultural, aspect of genocide. Further, it discusses the importance of the Assyrian case in Iraq for understanding Iraqi history, and serves as a case in point of scaling suffering and for understanding how and why a hierarchy of genocide exists.

The 1933 genocidal attacks on Assyrians in the Simele region defined the birth of the nascent Iraqi nation and identity. Iraq has ever been in the spotlight of ethnic and cultural strife, especially concerning Sunni-Shia animosity, and more recently in dealing with the Kurdish people and Iraqi Kurdistan. In most cases, however, the Assyrians are completely neglected from scholarship concerning Iraq and its peoples. This work reinserts the Assyrian people into the fabric of Iraq and discusses the violent and non-violent suppression of Assyrian identity and culture through genocide, cultural genocide, and ethnic cleansing. Three fundamental factors emerge from this reinsertion with respect to Iraq and genocide. First, this approach introduces an often-neglected element in Iraqi studies: the inclusion of minorities, or micro-minorities, within the existing discourse on Iraqi studies. Second, it contributes to genocide studies by examining the impact of the non-physical, or cultural, aspect of genocide. Further, it discusses the importance of the Assyrian case in Iraq for understanding Iraqi history, and serves as a case in point of scaling suffering and for understanding how and why a hierarchy of genocide exists.

The purpose of this paper is to study the processes of identity and feelings of connectedness among first and second generation of Kurds in the Swedish society. In previous research I assumed that this sense of belonging to a nation includes identity and language. As regards the theory part, I have chosen to use a number of studies to elucidate this issue. The theories used in the study focuses primarily on the understanding of identity. Identity in this context can include linguistic, religious, cultural acts, even nationality or that claiming membership to a particular group. I have implemented twenty-four depth interviews with first and second generation of Kurds in the ages 21–58. Some of these respondents came to Sweden as refugees during the 1980s - either alone or with their families, and some of them started a family after assuming residence in Sweden. The other respondents, called second generation of Kurds, either came as children or were born here in Sweden. The method used in this thesis is a qualitative data study which aims to create a deeper understanding of the underlying causes of the phenomenon or event explored. I chose the qualitative research method because it provides an appropriate framework for performing this type of study where the focus is in a deep description of personal experiences. Results from my research shows that almost all respondents have a sense of belonging to their original homeland (Kurdistan) and their second homeland Sweden. Respondents identify themselves based on how others in society perceive and categorize them. It also appeared that the second generations of Kurds have better opportunities to influence, act, communicate, balance and to create as well as recreate their identity than the first generation of Kurds. The results show that the younger generations of Kurds have a stronger ability and courage to exhibit their chosen existence or identity(s) in the Swedish society. Their curiosity and tolerance are part of this new young generation of Kurds, and they are building a strong identity within their environment. According to the respondents, the first socialization begins in the family. The family's dear and close people is the individual's first contact with the outside world.

This dissertation studies the impact of a nation-state oriented modernization project on the socio-political and economic structure of the Kurdish speaking areas in Turkey with specific reference to center-periphery relations. The primary objective of this study is to document and analyze strategies and practices that have been introduced by the center to transform the Kurdish speaking periphery and integrate it with the Turkish nation-state. It also analyses the impacts of this process on the periphery alongside the latter&rsquo / s responses to them. The analysis focuses on the application of the modernization project in three different fields: namely the economic, political and educational spheres. For this purpose the history of modern Turkey is divided into three periods. The first period covers the years from the foundation of the Turkish Republic until transition to the multi-party political system, that is, from 1923 to 1950. The second period is between 1950 and 1980. The post 1980 period is the third period.