Lisa Blaydes and Samuel Helfont eds., "Ba‘thist Iraq Through Archives: Reflections, Explorations, and Opportunities" (Stanford UP, 2026)
About this episode
The episode discusses the impact of Iraq's Ba'th Party archives on the understanding of Iraqi politics and authoritarian regimes.
The opening of Iraq's Ba'th Party archives revolutionized the study of Iraqi politics and history, offering scholars unprecedented access to the inner workings of one of the world's most impenetrable autocracies. Ba‘thist Iraq Through Archives: Reflections, Explorations, and Opportunities (Stanford University Press, 2026) edited by Dr. Lisa Blaydes and Dr. Samuel Helfont brings together leading scholars to take stock of what we have learned from over a decade of research using the Ba'thist archives, contributing to a new understanding of Iraq's history, with wider implications for understanding authoritarianism in general. The contributors show how research in these unique archives challenges previous assumptions about Ba'thist Iraq and the workings of authoritarian regimes. Their chapters provide fresh insights into how Saddam Hussein's regime functioned both at the elite level and through everyday bureaucratic practices, shedding light on state power, social relations, and international politics of the Middle East. The volume also critically reflects on the ethical questions posed by the archives, including their origins, the impact of their removal from Iraq, and access…
People in this episode
Host: Marshall Poe
Guests: Lisa Blaydes, Samuel Helfont
Topics covered
- Iraqi politics
- Ba'th Party archives
- authoritarianism
- state power
- social relations
- Middle East politics
Keywords
- Ba'thist Iraq
- archives
- politics
- history
- authoritarianism
- governance
- repression
- state-society relations
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Stanford University Press
Places: Iraq
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