The Kurds Ascending: The Evolving Solution to the Kurdish Problem in Iraq and Turkey

ISBN-13: 9780230603707 / Angielski / Twarda / 2008 / 179 str.

Michael M. Gunter

Opis

For the first time in their modern history, the Kurds in Iraq and Turkey at least are cautiously ascending. This is because of two major reasons. (1) In northern Iraq the two U.S. wars against Saddam Hussein have had the fortuitous side effect of helping to create a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The KRG has become an island of democratic stability, peace, and burgeoning economic progress, as well as an autonomous part of a projected federal, democratic, post-Saddam-Hussein Iraq. If such an Iraq proves impossible to construct, as it well may, the KRG is positioned to become independent. Either way, the evolution of a solution to the Kurdish problem in Iraq is clear. (2) Furthermore, Turkey's successful EU candidacy would have the additional fortuitous side effect of granting that country's ethnic Kurds their full democratic rights that have hitherto been denied. Although this evolving solution to the Kurdish problem in Iraq and Turkey remains cautiously fragile and would not apply to the Kurds in Iran and Syria because they have not experienced the recent developments their co-nationals in Iraq and Turkey have, it does represent a strikingly positive future that until recently seemed so bleak.

Recenzje

"The book is a reliable and authoritative statement by an acute and sympathetic political scientist" - Asian Affairs

"Professor Gunter has written an eminently readable, well-documented analysis that shows how the Kurdish question may be on the verge of a solution in Iraq and Turkey. Like his previous work, this book is polished and persuasive." - Tozun Bahcheli, Professor of Political Science, King's University College at the University of Western Ontario, Canada

"Professor Gunter, in his characteristic lucid style, shows how federalism in Iraq, as well as EU-mandated and AK Party reforms in Turkey are cautiously helping lead to a solution to the long-running Kurdish problem in these two important states. This provides a most welcomed insight into their future." - M. Hakan Yavuz, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Utah, USA

"Kurds Ascending draws on much of Professor Gunter's most recent work to provide a very up-to-date, riveting account of the monumental changes occurring vis-à-vis the Kurdish issue today. Written in clear, accessible language yet chocked full of interesting up-to-date information, Michael Gunter's book should be of great interest to both those previously unfamiliar with the Kurds and specialists in Middle East politics as well." - David Romano, Assistant Professor of International Studies, Rhodes College, USA, author of The Kurdish Nationalist Movement

Spis treści

Introduction * Historical Overview * The Iraqi Kurds' Federalism Imperative * The Changing Dynamics in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq * After Ocalan's Capture * Turkey's EU Promise * Taming Turkey's Deep State * The Other Kurds in Iran and Syria * Conclusion * Bibliography

O autorze

David Romano is Thomas G. Strong Professor of Middle East Politics at Missouri State University, USA.