Exploring the Concept, Influence and Impetus of Humanitarian Reconstruction: The Case of Iraq, 2003 - 2007.

Abstract

When analysing the Iraq invasion, what is striking is the framing of the subsequent reconstruction as humanitarian. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the problematic venture of conducting a humanitarian reconstruction, and what the effects of using humanitarian rationales were upon the trajectory of the reconstruction in Iraq. This thesis examines the dilemmas of humanitarian intervention that have been researched greatly, and translates these theories on ethics and the quandary of intervening using humanitarianism, to reconstruction, using Iraq as a case study. The methods for conducting this thesis are to examine the reconstruction period 2003 – 2007 from a top-down perspective, starting from the packaging and creation of operations conducive to a humanitarian reconstruction i.e. merging political, military, and humanitarian spheres together, and then examining the policies enacted by the occupying powers. Thereafter, operations and relief practices traditionally classified as humanitarian in nature are examined, and the treatment of refugees during the reconstruction, as well as the rise of insurgency and sectarian violence. Conclusions from this thesis deduce that by creating the paradoxical and inherently dilemma fraught aporia of humanitarian reconstruction, many aftershocks are felt during the reconstruction process itself that question the humanitarian ethos that was often semantically utilised in the framing of the Iraq reconstruction narrative.