The Failed Ba'thification of Iraqi Kurdistan: The Ideological and Organizational Strategies of the Ba'th Party in Northern Iraq, 1968–2003

Abstract:Drawing on internal party documents, this article analyzes the history of Ba'thification efforts in Iraqi Kurdistan. Despite a growing literature on the Ba'th Party's ruling strategy, the often-overlooked Arabization of Kurdish communities constituted a significant ideological component of Ba'thification. From an organizational perspective, the cultivation of internal intelligence networks was used to compensate for the challenges associated with robust party recruitment in northern Iraq's Kurdish-majority governorates and among Kurdish communities in mixed areas.