Books by Johan Franzén
Recent outbursts of sectarian and ethnic violence in Iraq have made many observers question the v... more Recent outbursts of sectarian and ethnic violence in Iraq have made many observers question the viability of the state itself. It is said that due to the artificiality of the state and a lack of deep-seated political institutions, Iraqi politics is doomed to endlessly revert back to primordialism. Political parties are mere facades for the real intention of pursuing ethno-sectarian interests, the argument goes. But the present situation has largely been caused by Saddam Hussein’s infamous rule over the past three decades, combined with the plight of international sanctions. Before Saddam’s ascent to power in the late 1970s, however, the Iraqi political spectrum was full of political parties operating from ideological platforms. The largest, and arguably most important of these groups, was the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP). The ICP stands out as the only true cross-sectarian party in Iraqi history, drawing support from all of Iraq’s diverse communities. From its inception in 1934, it continuously fought the various regimes in power and endeavoured to spread communist ideology throughout Iraq. At times the party achieved considerable success in this regard, although ultimately never able to seize power. Red Star over Iraq analyses the twists and turns of the ICP from its inception until its ultimate demise as a significant political force at the hands of Saddam in 1979.
Research Articles by Johan Franzén
This article analyses the development of a tenuous Iraqi national identity since the creation of ... more This article analyses the development of a tenuous Iraqi national identity since the creation of the Iraqi state in 1920. Informed by the ideas of Anthony D. Smith, Benedict Anderson and Eric Hobsbawm, it argues that various political actors in Iraq have sought to reshape historical memory and thus forge a national identity. Despite many setbacks and a long series of authoritarian regimes seeking to appropriate Iraqiness for their own political purposes, and recently the threat from Kurdish irredentism, this article nevertheless contends that an Iraqi cultural ‘ethnicity’ has been created over the past nine decades.
In the modern history of Iraq, the period from the 1958 Revolution until the Ba`th Party's consol... more In the modern history of Iraq, the period from the 1958 Revolution until the Ba`th Party's consolidation of power by the mid-1970s stands out as an exceptionally eventful era. Not only did it witness a revolution that overthrew the British-installed monarchy, it also saw the revolutionary regime's own downfall a few years later in a bloody coup. That putsch was later followed by many similar military interventions. In addition, the epoch witnessed phases of internal warfare between the Kurdish minority and the central government. Throughout this period the future of the new Iraqi republic was `up for grabs', and various disparate groupings and political parties struggled for power and to win over the general population to their respective causes. Besides the Ba`th Party, which eventually seized power in 1968, the two major political players during this period were the Iraqi Communist Party and the Kurdistan Democratic Party. Most academic studies have downplayed the role played by the two latter organisations during this period and none have explicitly looked at the changing relationship between them.
This article analyses British policy towards Iraq during the period following the Second World Wa... more This article analyses British policy towards Iraq during the period following the Second World War until the 1958 Iraqi revolution. Using British archival sources it demonstrates how Britain covertly tried to stem the rise of communist and nationalist anti-imperialist sentiments in Iraq through an insistence on employing ill-fitting anti-communist propaganda designed as a Cold War weapon with which to counter Soviet influence. Failing to appreciate the level of indigenous politicization, because of their own rigid ideas about the nature of the ‘Iraqi mind’, British officers were incapable of devising local responses to the growing threat of anti-imperialism, instead inadvertently handing over the initiative to Iraqi political groups to set the agenda. In this way Britain gradually lost the battle for hearts and minds in Iraq despite maintaining a huge propaganda apparatus in the country and the wider region.
This study analyses British and local Iraqi elites’ efforts to avoid social revolution through pr... more This study analyses British and local Iraqi elites’ efforts to avoid social revolution through promotion of economic development during the last years of the Iraqi monarchy. Discussing the complex set-up of domestic Iraqi elites and their ambiguous relations with British officials in Iraq, it argues that the structural composition of the Iraqi state itself is an important explanatory factor for the swift overthrow of the old regime in 1958. Using British archival records, this article analyses the politics of avoiding reform and promoting economic development to which Iraqi elites and the British were privy. It shows how economistic ideas of ‘modernisation’ and economic growth were believed to be the solution to Iraq's endemic problems of social unrest and politicisation of large parts of the population. Arguing that increased wealth through oil-fuelled development programmes would ultimately trickle down to all strata of the population and thus stave off the danger of revolution, the British failed to realise that Iraq's structural setup with its unscrupulous politicians and wealthy landowners at the apex of power, along with an all-permeating patronage system, effectively hampered any dispersal of what little new wealth was generated through these projects.
Following the termination of its mandate in 1932, Britain precariously tried to retain its influe... more Following the termination of its mandate in 1932, Britain precariously tried to retain its influence in Iraq. Nonetheless, nationalist endorsement of educational expansion precipitated the emergence of new intermediate social strata, which, unattached to traditional loyalties, became increasingly radicalized during the 1940s. Among these strata new anti-British political groups emerged who increasingly challenged the British presence in Iraq. The Iraqi Communist Party (ICP), founded in 1934, was arguably the greatest threat to British interests in Iraq during the monarchical period. Yet, British (and Iraqi) intelligence failed to fully understand the threat posed by the ICP, nor did it recognize the potentially dangerous role of the politicized intermediate strata. Dismissing the idea that Iraq with its traditional polity could produce ideologically committed Communists, British officers on the ground maintained that any signs of Communism in Iraq were inevitably a result of ‘Russian imperialism’. The stringent and disdainful attitude of these officers towards both the domestic politicized classes and the local Communists thus further isolated the British. This, in turn, helps explain the wide chasm that developed throughout the 1940s between the Iraqi elite and the British on the one hand and the ‘popular classes’ on the other, culminating in the popular uprising known as the Wathbah in 1948.
Journal of Palestine Studies, Feb 2007
This article discusses how the official communist position on the Zionist project in Palestine we... more This article discusses how the official communist position on the Zionist project in Palestine went from hostile condemnation in the early 1920s to wary support after World War II. In so doing, it focuses on the ideological struggle between the traditional party line and “Yishuvism,” a theory that sought to reconcile Zionist and communist ideas, as it played out in the two bodies most closely involved in shaping Comintern policy on Palestine (the Palestine Communist Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain). In following the tortured justifications for evolving positions, the author identifies the key actors shaping the debate and turning points impacting it, especially the 1936–39 Arab Revolt, Britain's 1939 White Paper, and the wartime fight against fascism. The author contends that an important reason for the USSR's post-war about-face on Palestine was the success of the Yishuvist ideological campaign.
Published as "Communism versus Zionism: The Comintern, Yishuvism, and the Palestine Communist Party", Johan Franzén, Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Winter 2007) (pp. 6-24). © 2007 by the Regents of the University of California. Copying and permissions notice: Authorization to copy this content beyond fair use (as specified in Sections 107 and 108 of the U. S. Copyright Law) for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by the Regents of the Univ. of California for libraries and other users, provided that they are registered with and pay the specified fee via Rightslink® on JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org/r/ucal) or directly with the Copyright Clearance Center, http://www.copyright.com.
Book Chapter by Johan Franzén
Writing the Modern History of Iraq: Historiographical and Political Challenges, 2012
encylopaedia articles by Johan Franzén
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World, 2008
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World, 2008
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World, 2008
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World, 2008
The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500 to Present, 2009
The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500 to Present, 2009
The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500 to Present, 2009
The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500 to Present, 2009
The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500 to Present, 2009
Media by Johan Franzén
The Huffington Post, Oct 10, 2013
Huffington Post, Mar 19, 2013
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Books by Johan Franzén
Research Articles by Johan Franzén
Published as "Communism versus Zionism: The Comintern, Yishuvism, and the Palestine Communist Party", Johan Franzén, Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Winter 2007) (pp. 6-24). © 2007 by the Regents of the University of California. Copying and permissions notice: Authorization to copy this content beyond fair use (as specified in Sections 107 and 108 of the U. S. Copyright Law) for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by the Regents of the Univ. of California for libraries and other users, provided that they are registered with and pay the specified fee via Rightslink® on JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org/r/ucal) or directly with the Copyright Clearance Center, http://www.copyright.com.
Book Chapter by Johan Franzén
encylopaedia articles by Johan Franzén
Media by Johan Franzén
Published as "Communism versus Zionism: The Comintern, Yishuvism, and the Palestine Communist Party", Johan Franzén, Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Winter 2007) (pp. 6-24). © 2007 by the Regents of the University of California. Copying and permissions notice: Authorization to copy this content beyond fair use (as specified in Sections 107 and 108 of the U. S. Copyright Law) for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by the Regents of the Univ. of California for libraries and other users, provided that they are registered with and pay the specified fee via Rightslink® on JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org/r/ucal) or directly with the Copyright Clearance Center, http://www.copyright.com.