This book shows how the state-based and stateless ethno-nationalist forces in the four countries overlapping Kurdistan, i.e. Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq, have politically deployed religion in their nationalistic confrontations in Kurdistan as the converging area between them. The stances and actions of these different antagonistic forces are analyzed, as well as the dynamics between them. Unlike other studies on Kurdistan, it focuses on Greater Kurdistan as the arena for nationalist conflicts, instead of looking only at separate parts of Kurdistan. The research presented in this book shows that both the religious state (Iran) and so-called secular states (Turkey, Iraq and Syria) make use of religious discourse and symbols in order to impose power over ‘their part’ of Greater Kurdistan and as a way of countering Kurdish nationalist movements. The dominant ethno-nationalist groups of Fars, Turk and Arab have politically used Islam, during wars and elections, to gain and maintain their power over Kurdish areas. Conversely, Kurdish nationalist groups have also tried to neutralize those states’ policies by evoking religious symbols and discourses. Nevertheless, as the book concludes, the unequal political power balance between the four states on one side, and the stateless Kurdish nationalist groups on the other, has resulted in the latter being restricted in using religion as a means to gain power in the region.

This book shows how the state-based and stateless ethno-nationalist forces in the four countries overlapping Kurdistan, i.e. Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq, have politically deployed religion in their nationalistic confrontations in Kurdistan as the converging area between them. The stances and actions of these different antagonistic forces are analyzed, as well as the dynamics between them. Unlike other studies on Kurdistan, it focuses on Greater Kurdistan as the arena for nationalist conflicts, instead of looking only at separate parts of Kurdistan. The research presented in this book shows that both the religious state (Iran) and so-called secular states (Turkey, Iraq and Syria) make use of religious discourse and symbols in order to impose power over 'their part' of Greater Kurdistan and as a way of countering Kurdish nationalist movements. The dominant ethno-nationalist groups of Fars, Turk and Arab have politically used Islam, during wars and elections, to gain and maintain their power over Kurdish areas. Conversely, Kurdish nationalist groups have also tried to neutralize those states' policies by evoking religious symbols and discourses. Nevertheless, as the book concludes, the unequal political power balance between the four states on one side, and the stateless Kurdish nationalist groups on the other, has resulted in the latter being restricted in using religion as a means to gain power in the region.

Today’s youth are challenging the older political class around the world and are forming new political generations. Examples from South Africa and elsewhere where peace processes were deemed to be successful show signs of youth disapproval of the current post-conflict conditions. Moreover, the Arab Spring witnessed numerous youth movements emerge in authoritarian and illiberal contexts. This book was prepared in light of these discussions and aims to contribute to these ongoing debates on youth politics by presenting the situation of youth in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) as a case study. It will be the first book that specifically focuses on the Iraqi Kurdish youth and their political, social, and economic participation in Kurdistan. The contemporary history of the KRI is marked by conflict, war, and ethnic cleansing under Saddam Hussein and the tyranny of the Ba’ath regime, significantly affecting the political situation of the Kurds in the Middle East. Most of the recent academic literature has focused on the broader picture or, in other words, the macro politics of the Kurdish conundrum within Iraq and beyond. There is little scholarship about the Kurdish population and their socio-economic conditions after 2003, and almost none about the younger generation of Kurds who came of age during autonomous Kurdish rule. This is a generation that, unlike their forebears, has no direct memory of the decades-long campaigns of repression. Studying and examining the rise of this generation of Kurdish young millennials—“Generation 2000”—who came of age in the aftermath of the United States invasion of Iraq offers a unique approach to understand the dynamics in a region that underwent a substantial socio-political transformation after 2003 as well as the impact of these developments on the youth population. Pursuing different themes and lines of inquiry the contributors of the book analyze the challenges and opportunities for young men and women to fulfil their needs and desires, and contribute to the ongoing quest for nationhood and nation-building. "In this book, our aim is to bring together a variety of perspectives from local and foreign academics who have been working on pressing issues in Kurdistan and beyond. The chapters focus on an array of themes, particularly including political participation, political situation and change, religiosity, and extremism. ... Taken together, the chapters provide us with an introduction to youth politics in Kurdistan. This book is just the first attempt to open academic and nonacademic debate on this subject at a time when protests around youth-related issues are becoming a more prevalent method of political engagement in the region. Our hope is that more research follows and supplements what has not been addressed in this book, especially through the introduction of first-hand youth perspectives to the core of this analysis and giving them a voice in nonviolent platforms." CONTENTS Foreword: Youth in the Kurdistan Region and Their Past and Present Roles - Karwan Jamal Tahir Kurdish Youth as Agents of Change: Political Participation, Looming Challenges, and Future Predictions - Shivan Fazil and Bahar Baser CHAPTER 1. Youth Political Participation and Prospects for Democratic Reform in Iraqi Kurdistan - Munir H. Mohammad CHAPTER 2. Social Media, Youth Organization, and Public Order in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Megan Connelly CHAPTER 3. Constructing Their Own Liberation: Youth’s Reimagining of Gender and Queer Sexuality in Iraqi Kurdistan - Hawzhin Azeez CHAPTER 4. Kurdish Youth and Civic Culture: Support for Democracy Among Kurdish and non-Kurdish Youth in Iraq - Dastan Jasim CHAPTER 5. Youth and Nationalism in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq - Sofia Barbarani CHAPTER 6. An Elitist Interpretation of KRG Governance: How Self-Serving Kurdish Elites Govern Under the Guise of Democracy and the Subsequent Implications for Representation and Change - Bamo Nouri CHAPTER 7. Educational Policy in the Kurdistan Region: A Critical Democratic Response - Abdurrahman Ahmad Wahab CHAPTER 8. Making Heaven in a Shithole: Changing Political Engagement in the Aftermath of the Islamic State - Lana Askari CHAPTER 9. Kurdish Youth and Religious Identity: Between Religious and National Tensions - Ibrahim Sadiq CHAPTER 10. Youth Radicalization in Kurdistan: The Government Response - Kamaran Palani

This powerful argument reassess radical Islam and the set of ideas and assumptions at its core. Olivier Roy offers a challenging and highly original view that no-one trying to understand Islamic fundamentalism can afford to overlook.

The Cambridge History of the Kurds is an authoritative and comprehensive volume exploring the social, political and economic features, forces and evolution amongst the Kurds, and in the region known as Kurdistan, from the fifteenth to the twenty-first century. Written in a clear and accessible style by leading scholars in the field, the chapters survey key issues and themes vital to any understanding of the Kurds and Kurdistan including Kurdish language; Kurdish art, culture and literature; Kurdistan in the age of empires; political, social and religious movements in Kurdistan; and domestic political developments in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Other chapters on gender, diaspora, political economy, tribes, cinema and folklore offer fresh perspectives on the Kurds and Kurdistan as well as neatly meeting an exigent need in Middle Eastern studies. Situating contemporary developments taking place in Kurdish-majority regions within broader histories of the region, it forms a definitive survey of the history of the Kurds and Kurdistan.

In the aftermath of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Kurds were promised their own state. However, several factors meant that this dream never became a reality, and the land of the Kurds was divided. Amid a sense of a loss of identity, the Kurds started to fight for their social and political rights. ‘Kurdish Politics in Turkey’ argues that the Kurdish struggle has largely been a failure, and that the emergence of the Unions of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK) has been a direct result of this. The book examines the success of the KCK and how it has transformed this Kurdish struggle in Turkey from a one-dimensional political movement, to a multi-dimensional social movement.

U.S.-Turkish relations, long a vital element of U.S. policy, have seriously deteriorated in recent years. However, the arrival of a new U.S. administration offers an opportunity to repair recent fissures. Priority should be given to harmonizing policy toward Iraq and the Middle East as well as Central Asia and the Caucasus.