Academic summit decries political management of Iraq

A panel of international political science professors that convened in Swansea at the 58th annual conference of the Political Studies Association (PSA) decried political management of Iraq under allied occupation and warned of the rise of Iranian neoconservatives as a direct consequence of British and American foreign policy.

The panel addressed the ongoing difficulty of establishing democratic institutions in Iraq. One of the speakers, Professor Anoush Ehteshami, from Durham University, warned that securitization of the Middle East and international regional systems had facilitated the rise and consolidation of Iran’s own brand of neoconservativism as a counter force to America’s neo-cons.

Ehteshami and others, including Professor Eric Davis (Rutgers, USA), talked about ‘taking democracy seriously in Iraq.' They were joined on the panel by Professor Jack Spence of King’s College and Professor Gareth Stansfield (Exeter), who is currently writing a book about the management of disputed territories in Iraq.

Elizabeth Winter of the British and Irish Agencies Afghanistan group (BAAG) and the International Consortium for Refugees in Iran (ICRI) discussed political transition in Afghanistan and whether the West knew how to help and was committed enough to do the right thing in terms of that transition.