Journal of Contemporary Iraq & the Arab World,, 2020
Students from the University of Halabja were asked in a survey conducted in April 2019 about thei... more Students from the University of Halabja were asked in a survey conducted in April 2019 about their attitudes towards emigration in the wake of a prolonged financial crisis burdening the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) since 2014. While these students are not yet migrants, researching the reasons for their envisaged migration helps to better understand the challenges they face. Despite a continuous development of its post-secondary education sector, the KRI still struggles with low absorption rates of graduates. At the same time, the KRI exhibits a growing youth bulge, as well as high unemployment levels among its young population. These unfavourable conditions might cause a brain drain, pushing the educated youth to leave the country in search of better financial means, as well as waves of social unrest as seen throughout Iraq and the wider Middle East. First results show that more than half of the surveyed students have considered emigrating. Local job opportunities would, however, diminish their percentage.
This study compares the education policies regarding the Holocaust and the Second World War in th... more This study compares the education policies regarding the Holocaust and the Second World War in the German Democratic Republic and Romania starting with the communist times(1948‑1989) and continuing up to the present. In order to do so, the article contrasts history textbooks and other curricular materials. Throughout the analysis, several phases of the process of Dealing with the Past have been identified for both cases. Some of the phases during the communist times have shown a broad spectrum of similarities between the two case studies, due to the comparable political, societal and ideological paradigms of the respective regimes, which had profoundly coined the historiography in use. Notable differences are registered with regard to the initial individual phase of history teaching in the 1950s, where the GDR, for (geo‑)political reasons, tackled the topic of the Holocaust,even if only in ideologically tainted terms in order to expose West Germany as the allegedly only successor state of the Third Reich. Holocaust atrocities are, on the other hand, almost entirely absent in the Romanian textbooks of the same period. Another striking difference became evident during the transitional phase from communism to democracy. While East Germany had to immediately integrate into the Federal German educational paradigms regarding the Holocaust, Romania struggled with different contentious transitional phases,before acknowledging the involvement of the nation in the crimes of the Holocaust. The study concludes with recommendations for the teaching of the Holocaust, which address some previously identified shortcomings.
This paper scrutinises the complex interactions between local and
international economic actors i... more This paper scrutinises the complex interactions between local and international economic actors in the oil and gas sector of Iraq. While internationalisation and the opening up of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan in the north of Iraq have played a particularly crucial role for the consolidation of the Kurdish position, they have been also responsible for ongoing spirals of contentions within the KRG (between the main parties in the Autonomous Region), as well as within Iraq (between regional and federal government). How the economic interactions have influenced the escalation and de-escalation of these conflicts can be seen comparatively throughout four key periods of time (2002-2007; 2007-2011; 2011- 2014; 2014-ongoing).
According to an analysis by the der U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the verified oi... more According to an analysis by the der U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the verified oil reserves in Iraq amounted to 115 billion barrels in 2011 and already 141 billion barrels in 2013, a fact which places the country worldwide on the fifth rank behind Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Canada and Iran. Iraq’s enormous oil and general energy potential is responsible for an intensified competition, for a re-calibration of the energy-political power ratios between the established regional oil hegemonies Iran and Saudi Arabia, and for possible price fluctuations if the OPEC does not regulate the decontrolled worldwide oil quantities. The regional energy-political power ratios do not only take place economically; on the contrary, here a two-dimensional constellation of both ethnic group and denomination becomes prominent. From an ethnical point of view, the majority of the countries in the MENA region (Near East and North Africa) call themselves Arabian countries. Nevertheless, these societies contain a remarkable and recognized diversity of ethnic groups. In addition to that, two highly populated and energy-politically relevant states in this region are non-Arabic: Turkey, as one of the most resources-dependent countries of the world, and Iran. From a denominational point of view, the largest concentration of Shiite Muslims is in the Persian Gulf region. These make up more than 65% of the population in Iran, Iraq and Bahrain, 40% in Yemen, and 25 % in Kuwait, and in the rest of such countries as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and the United Arabian Emirates they represent mostly marginalized and discriminated minorities with 5 to 15 %. Here it is important to remark on adverse positioning concerning the denominational border lines of the richest countries of the region, Saudi Arabia (Sunni) and Iran (Shiite). The third in rank concerning oil resources, Iraq, is nationally distorted, as far as this denominational aspect is concerned. These conflict lines also shape the national political landscape of Iraq, where oil becomes a bone of contention between the central government in Bagdad and the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan. The disputes going off along denominational-ethnical demarcation lines concern all stages of petroleum operations, from prospecting new oil fields over extraction per se to transport, processing and extraction of refined derivatives and finally export and import. Due to its close economical interconnectedness and the interdependence of the actors, especially this last stage contributes to the reflection of the regional conflicts, so that a possible destabilization of Iraq gains global relevance. The collective actions of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan have proved more successful than those of the central government. The reason for this success is the stability of its identity. The weaknesses and instabilities of the Iraqi central government come from the lack of visions how to let the different political identities in the country grow together. So far this has been considered a zero-sum situation. Iraq, which is weak anyhow, is additionally weakened by the events by Sunni extremists of ISIS/IS, and thus is diverted from the dispute over oil warrants. The capacity of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan to support the dysfunctional Iraqi military is indicative of the possibility of a further basis of encounter. Although conflicts arising in the course of such encounters are always possible, the development of some common ground on which to base depends on perpetual interaction. Here the question arises whether it will possible in future that by appearance of a common adversary a consensus, and eventually a superior Iraqi identity, can be created.
Political Identification in Europe: Community in Crisis?, 2021
This contribution is based on empirical data gathered during a large-scale project called Restora... more This contribution is based on empirical data gathered during a large-scale project called Restorative Circles for Citizens in Europe, financed by the Europe for Citizens programme of the European Commission. Between January and June 2017, individuals from different walks of life came together in Trebnitz and Berlin to talk about ‘their’ Europe. Originally envisaged as an opportunity for dialogue between Eurosceptics and pro-Europeans, it soon revealed that there are many nuances in these attitudes. The presence of members and sympathisers of populist and right-wing movements and parties in the meetings changed the communication dynamics, and offered a unique opportunity to observe how (bottom-up) identity is constructed and what impact it has. This contribution analyses the extensive collected data.
Conflict Veterans Discourses and Living Contexts of an Emerging Social Group, 2018
Returnees from wars and violent conflicts belong to their societies as much as any other distinct... more Returnees from wars and violent conflicts belong to their societies as much as any other distinct social group. In an age of asymmetric warfare and highly ambiguous profiles of combat, the veterans’ position is changing and is less clear than in the past. Veterans are either marginalized or considered a social and political precarity; their self-perception and identity are often burdened with uncertain return into their societies.
This volume brings together experts on veteran studies from various academic disciplines. Their views present a variety of sociological, anthropological, and military aspects on the lives and environments of contemporary veteran cultures.
Based on findings from the first contemporary congress on returnees from diverse wars and interventions held in Germany in July 2016, the contributions here compare the situations of veterans and their perception by society in different countries. The main focus falls on the so far under-researched German “particular path” into the normalcy of producing and then having veterans who, as a new, emerging social group, start to build up their own associations and culture, and gain political and socio-cultural power of interpretation. This process forms a contrast to those veteran cultures that can build on long and seemingly less broken traditions.
Journal of Contemporary Iraq & the Arab World,, 2020
Students from the University of Halabja were asked in a survey conducted in April 2019 about thei... more Students from the University of Halabja were asked in a survey conducted in April 2019 about their attitudes towards emigration in the wake of a prolonged financial crisis burdening the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) since 2014. While these students are not yet migrants, researching the reasons for their envisaged migration helps to better understand the challenges they face. Despite a continuous development of its post-secondary education sector, the KRI still struggles with low absorption rates of graduates. At the same time, the KRI exhibits a growing youth bulge, as well as high unemployment levels among its young population. These unfavourable conditions might cause a brain drain, pushing the educated youth to leave the country in search of better financial means, as well as waves of social unrest as seen throughout Iraq and the wider Middle East. First results show that more than half of the surveyed students have considered emigrating. Local job opportunities would, however, diminish their percentage.
This study compares the education policies regarding the Holocaust and the Second World War in th... more This study compares the education policies regarding the Holocaust and the Second World War in the German Democratic Republic and Romania starting with the communist times(1948‑1989) and continuing up to the present. In order to do so, the article contrasts history textbooks and other curricular materials. Throughout the analysis, several phases of the process of Dealing with the Past have been identified for both cases. Some of the phases during the communist times have shown a broad spectrum of similarities between the two case studies, due to the comparable political, societal and ideological paradigms of the respective regimes, which had profoundly coined the historiography in use. Notable differences are registered with regard to the initial individual phase of history teaching in the 1950s, where the GDR, for (geo‑)political reasons, tackled the topic of the Holocaust,even if only in ideologically tainted terms in order to expose West Germany as the allegedly only successor state of the Third Reich. Holocaust atrocities are, on the other hand, almost entirely absent in the Romanian textbooks of the same period. Another striking difference became evident during the transitional phase from communism to democracy. While East Germany had to immediately integrate into the Federal German educational paradigms regarding the Holocaust, Romania struggled with different contentious transitional phases,before acknowledging the involvement of the nation in the crimes of the Holocaust. The study concludes with recommendations for the teaching of the Holocaust, which address some previously identified shortcomings.
This paper scrutinises the complex interactions between local and
international economic actors i... more This paper scrutinises the complex interactions between local and international economic actors in the oil and gas sector of Iraq. While internationalisation and the opening up of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan in the north of Iraq have played a particularly crucial role for the consolidation of the Kurdish position, they have been also responsible for ongoing spirals of contentions within the KRG (between the main parties in the Autonomous Region), as well as within Iraq (between regional and federal government). How the economic interactions have influenced the escalation and de-escalation of these conflicts can be seen comparatively throughout four key periods of time (2002-2007; 2007-2011; 2011- 2014; 2014-ongoing).
According to an analysis by the der U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the verified oi... more According to an analysis by the der U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the verified oil reserves in Iraq amounted to 115 billion barrels in 2011 and already 141 billion barrels in 2013, a fact which places the country worldwide on the fifth rank behind Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Canada and Iran. Iraq’s enormous oil and general energy potential is responsible for an intensified competition, for a re-calibration of the energy-political power ratios between the established regional oil hegemonies Iran and Saudi Arabia, and for possible price fluctuations if the OPEC does not regulate the decontrolled worldwide oil quantities. The regional energy-political power ratios do not only take place economically; on the contrary, here a two-dimensional constellation of both ethnic group and denomination becomes prominent. From an ethnical point of view, the majority of the countries in the MENA region (Near East and North Africa) call themselves Arabian countries. Nevertheless, these societies contain a remarkable and recognized diversity of ethnic groups. In addition to that, two highly populated and energy-politically relevant states in this region are non-Arabic: Turkey, as one of the most resources-dependent countries of the world, and Iran. From a denominational point of view, the largest concentration of Shiite Muslims is in the Persian Gulf region. These make up more than 65% of the population in Iran, Iraq and Bahrain, 40% in Yemen, and 25 % in Kuwait, and in the rest of such countries as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and the United Arabian Emirates they represent mostly marginalized and discriminated minorities with 5 to 15 %. Here it is important to remark on adverse positioning concerning the denominational border lines of the richest countries of the region, Saudi Arabia (Sunni) and Iran (Shiite). The third in rank concerning oil resources, Iraq, is nationally distorted, as far as this denominational aspect is concerned. These conflict lines also shape the national political landscape of Iraq, where oil becomes a bone of contention between the central government in Bagdad and the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan. The disputes going off along denominational-ethnical demarcation lines concern all stages of petroleum operations, from prospecting new oil fields over extraction per se to transport, processing and extraction of refined derivatives and finally export and import. Due to its close economical interconnectedness and the interdependence of the actors, especially this last stage contributes to the reflection of the regional conflicts, so that a possible destabilization of Iraq gains global relevance. The collective actions of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan have proved more successful than those of the central government. The reason for this success is the stability of its identity. The weaknesses and instabilities of the Iraqi central government come from the lack of visions how to let the different political identities in the country grow together. So far this has been considered a zero-sum situation. Iraq, which is weak anyhow, is additionally weakened by the events by Sunni extremists of ISIS/IS, and thus is diverted from the dispute over oil warrants. The capacity of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan to support the dysfunctional Iraqi military is indicative of the possibility of a further basis of encounter. Although conflicts arising in the course of such encounters are always possible, the development of some common ground on which to base depends on perpetual interaction. Here the question arises whether it will possible in future that by appearance of a common adversary a consensus, and eventually a superior Iraqi identity, can be created.
Political Identification in Europe: Community in Crisis?, 2021
This contribution is based on empirical data gathered during a large-scale project called Restora... more This contribution is based on empirical data gathered during a large-scale project called Restorative Circles for Citizens in Europe, financed by the Europe for Citizens programme of the European Commission. Between January and June 2017, individuals from different walks of life came together in Trebnitz and Berlin to talk about ‘their’ Europe. Originally envisaged as an opportunity for dialogue between Eurosceptics and pro-Europeans, it soon revealed that there are many nuances in these attitudes. The presence of members and sympathisers of populist and right-wing movements and parties in the meetings changed the communication dynamics, and offered a unique opportunity to observe how (bottom-up) identity is constructed and what impact it has. This contribution analyses the extensive collected data.
Conflict Veterans Discourses and Living Contexts of an Emerging Social Group, 2018
Returnees from wars and violent conflicts belong to their societies as much as any other distinct... more Returnees from wars and violent conflicts belong to their societies as much as any other distinct social group. In an age of asymmetric warfare and highly ambiguous profiles of combat, the veterans’ position is changing and is less clear than in the past. Veterans are either marginalized or considered a social and political precarity; their self-perception and identity are often burdened with uncertain return into their societies.
This volume brings together experts on veteran studies from various academic disciplines. Their views present a variety of sociological, anthropological, and military aspects on the lives and environments of contemporary veteran cultures.
Based on findings from the first contemporary congress on returnees from diverse wars and interventions held in Germany in July 2016, the contributions here compare the situations of veterans and their perception by society in different countries. The main focus falls on the so far under-researched German “particular path” into the normalcy of producing and then having veterans who, as a new, emerging social group, start to build up their own associations and culture, and gain political and socio-cultural power of interpretation. This process forms a contrast to those veteran cultures that can build on long and seemingly less broken traditions.
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Papers by Silvia Nicola
international economic actors in the oil and gas sector of Iraq. While
internationalisation and the opening up of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan in the
north of Iraq have played a particularly crucial role for the consolidation of the Kurdish
position, they have been also responsible for ongoing spirals of contentions within the
KRG (between the main parties in the Autonomous Region), as well as within Iraq
(between regional and federal government). How the economic interactions have
influenced the escalation and de-escalation of these conflicts can be seen
comparatively throughout four key periods of time (2002-2007; 2007-2011; 2011-
2014; 2014-ongoing).
Books by Silvia Nicola
This volume brings together experts on veteran studies from various academic disciplines. Their views present a variety of sociological, anthropological, and military aspects on the lives and environments of contemporary veteran cultures.
Based on findings from the first contemporary congress on returnees from diverse wars and interventions held in Germany in July 2016, the contributions here compare the situations of veterans and their perception by society in different countries. The main focus falls on the so far under-researched German “particular path” into the normalcy of producing and then having veterans who, as a new, emerging social group, start to build up their own associations and culture, and gain political and socio-cultural power of interpretation. This process forms a contrast to those veteran cultures that can build on long and seemingly less broken traditions.
international economic actors in the oil and gas sector of Iraq. While
internationalisation and the opening up of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan in the
north of Iraq have played a particularly crucial role for the consolidation of the Kurdish
position, they have been also responsible for ongoing spirals of contentions within the
KRG (between the main parties in the Autonomous Region), as well as within Iraq
(between regional and federal government). How the economic interactions have
influenced the escalation and de-escalation of these conflicts can be seen
comparatively throughout four key periods of time (2002-2007; 2007-2011; 2011-
2014; 2014-ongoing).
This volume brings together experts on veteran studies from various academic disciplines. Their views present a variety of sociological, anthropological, and military aspects on the lives and environments of contemporary veteran cultures.
Based on findings from the first contemporary congress on returnees from diverse wars and interventions held in Germany in July 2016, the contributions here compare the situations of veterans and their perception by society in different countries. The main focus falls on the so far under-researched German “particular path” into the normalcy of producing and then having veterans who, as a new, emerging social group, start to build up their own associations and culture, and gain political and socio-cultural power of interpretation. This process forms a contrast to those veteran cultures that can build on long and seemingly less broken traditions.