Do Iraqi political parties tend towards sectarianism and Islamism? New academic article of PCMR for the British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies

Date of publication: September 20, 2024

A new scholarly article by PCMR Director Filip Sommer, titled “Islamic and Sectarian or Secular and Nationalist? New Classification of Iraqi Shi’a Political Actors Based on Ideological Anchorage,” discusses the Iraqi Shi’a political landscape, focusing particularly on the classification of the main Shi’a political parties (specifically their religious and sectarian anchorage), which represent the primary decision-makers in the country. The article, published in the academic journal British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, also addresses the close connection between the Iraqi Shi’a political scene and Iran. Additionally, it examines the phenomenon of the so-called Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF or al-Hashd al-Shaabi), often portrayed in the media merely as a “various pro-Iranian Iraqi militias.” The PMF, however, is one of Iran’s most significant allies in the Middle East region and operates beyond Iraqi territory, for example, in neighboring Syria.

Link to the article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2024.2373066

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