Al-Maliki Tribal Policy and the Emergence of the New Shaykhs in Iraq

International Relations and Diplomacy, June 2019, Vol. 7, No. 06, 288-294

doi: 10.17265/2328-2134/2019.06.004

Al-Maliki Tribal Policy and the Emergence of the

New Shaykhs in Iraq

Haidar Reda

Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

The state collapse in Iraq after the US invasion in 2003 resulted in a vacuum of state institution. This helped the

emergence and increase of sectarian violence between Shia and Sunni, which led to civil war in 2006-2007. In

order to end the violence and to alienate Al-Qaeda, the US authorities and Iraqi government began supporting tribal

leaders during the civil war. In 2008, the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki created tribal council called (Majālis

al-A snād) to utilize the tribal groups mainly belong to Shia sect. This article tries to explain the emergence of new

social strata called New Shaykhs in Iraqi society, as a result of Maliki’s tribal policy. It is due to the failed state

situation in Iraq since 2003 which helped non-state actors to be more and more active, such as new tribal leaders.

This paper focus on the political manipulation of tribal societies which is different after 2003, compared to

traditional policy in Iraq which have used and mobilized the tribal societies.

Keywords: failed state, tribalism, Iraq, sectarian violence

Introduction

The collapse of the regime in Iraq in 2003 by US forces brought a vacuum of state institutions. Number of casualties of both US soldiers and Iraqi civilians increased after “the end of the major combat” that Bush administration declared in 1 May 2003 and reached to the level of “civil war” during 2006-2007, which was understood as “sectarian conflicts”. In order to end such increase of sectarian hostility and anti-US violence, the US authorities and Iraqi government empowered the tribe leaders in Anbar province to stabilize the security and end the anti-US Sunni revolt and to fight Al-Qaeda1in Iraq. In this process, however, then the Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki2introduced his own way to utilize the tribal groups, supporting new tribe leaders in Baghdad that mainly belong to Shia sect for the propose to create his supportive body there. In this way, the importance of tribes and tribe leaders in the social and political life of Iraq increased after 2003 in various phases.

This article tries to explain the role of tribal society in Iraq during Al-Maliki role 2006-2014, and how political actors try to manipulate the power and influence of tribal groups in Iraq. It is true that the rulers in Iraq historically used the tribal forces in order to use them as a political tool, from the era of Ottoman to the regime of Saddam Hussein. However, we can find a difference in the pattern of tribal policy in the post-2003 regime,

Haidar Reda, Ph.D. student, Graduate School of Humanities and Studies of Public Affairs, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.

1Al-Qaeda in Iraq appeared for the first time in 2004 when al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born militant leader, already leading insurgent attacks against foreign troops and Shia in Iraq, formed an alliance with Al-Qaeda.

2Nori Kamil Al-Maliki is an Iraqi Shia politician who was Prime Minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014. He is secretary-general of

the Islamic Dawa Party.