Is Iraq "artificial," on the verge of disintegrating? All too often, answers to this question ignore Iraq's own history. This book presents, for the first time, an actual cast study of southern Iraqi separatism: a daring bid to turn Basra into a pro-British mercantile mini-state. The study uncovers the dynamics and limits of southern separatism, casts new light on the victory of Iraqi nationalism in the south, and discusses the challenges of post-2003 regionalism in a federal Iraq.

Reidar Visser is a research fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs in Oslo.