Title:EXPANDING THE STATE: DISARMAMENT IN THE BRITISH MANDATE OF IRAQ, 1919-1927
Author: Gibson , Matthew Michael
Place of publication: US
Publisher: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School
Release date: 2021

Arms proliferation, following the First World War, presented tremendous problems for British-colonial governance in the Middle East. Specifically, the Iraqi revolt of 1920 against British occupation illustrated a larger problem: how can the imperial government halt arms transfers and the use of arms within Iraq while balancing their interests? This project argues that Britain’s selective-disarmament process secured its state-building project and domination in the Middle East. Disarmament impacted the internal and regional relationships between the colonial government and its imperial allies; subsequently, cross-border gun-smuggling weakened Anglo-French relations. Within recent decades, the US involvement in Iraq since the early 2000s has impacted the historiography of state-building. This project is influenced by similar events but centering arms prohibition tells a nuanced story of state-building in Iraq. The story highlights both the difficulties and frustrations of the State to consolidate power and tribal communities’ ability to rival state power through preexisting gun-trade networks. [1]