Une mission sacrée pour qui ? Quelques réflexions sur l’Intégration Nationale et le Mandat britannique en Irak

• Main Author: Peter Sluglett
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Université de Provence 2007-07-01
• Series: Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/remmm/3271
• ISSN: 0997-1327; 2105-2271

Inherent in the creation of the post-war Middle Eastern mandates was the notion of moral purpose, specifically that the Great Powers should be actively preparing their young charges for independence at some point in the not too distant future. In practice, in contrast to the high ideals surrounding their creation, the new structures which emerged were largely a reflection of the Powers’ desire to create institutions through which they could exercise control. In Iraq, considerations of economy dictated the formation of a fairly large national army, backed up, when necessary, by the coercive powers of the Royal Air Force. This led to the employment of force in situations for which administrative solutions would have been more appropriate, and eventually to a general failure to create soundly based institutional structures which would be capable of resisting domination by small military cliques. Also, British policy was to rule through the Arab Sunni ‘aristocracy of service’, effectively according minority status to the majority Shi‘i population. While this was generally tolerated as long as the Shi‘is remained at the bottom of the socio-economic pile, increasing educational provision and growing political awareness produced a series of challenges to the status quo, first under the monarchy and subsequently under the republic.