This book covers over a century of history, from the emergence of Kurdish nationalism in the interwar period to the 2010s when, for the first time in modern history, Kurdish forces controlled two autonomous political entities in Iraq and Syria, as well as over a hundred municipalities in south-eastern Turkey. In these years of momentous advance for Kurdish forces across the region, Kurdish politics remains deeply divided into competing movements pursuing irreconcilable projects for the future of the nation. The author investigates the origins of the present divide in the history of Kurdish nationalism. The book turns the historical sociology to study nationalism as embedded in social conflicts through a comparative analysis of the history of the Kurdish movement in Iraq and Turkey, by reassessing the literature on Kurdish politics and filling its gaps with numerous interviews with witnesses and scholars.

Presents first history of the Kurdish national movement from a political-economic perspective Explains the complexity of Kurdish politics today by exploring its origins in a century of Kurdish nationalism Investigates the interaction of class and nation in the history of Kurdish nationalism.

Autorentext

Nicola Degli Esposti is Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, the UK.

Inhalt

Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Feudal Nationalism in Kurdistan (1918-1946).- Chapter 3. Land Reform and Kurdish Revolt in Postcolonial Iraq (1946-1991).- Chapter 4. The Class Structure of Kurdish Self-Rule in Iraq (1991-2014).- Chapter 5. The Crisis of Kurdish Nationalism in Iraq (2014-2019).- Chapter 6. The Kurdish Question in Cold-War Turkey (1946-1987).- Chapter 7. The PKK Insurgency and the Transformation of Turkish Kurdistan (1987-1999).- Chapter 8. The New Kurdish Movement in Turkey and Beyond (2000-2019).- Chapter 9. Class Politics and Kurdish Nationalism in Iran and Syria.- Chapter 10. Conclusion.