Beyond the Iraq War [Book] : the promises, pitfalls, and perils of external interventionism / edited by Michael Heazle, Iyanatul Islam.

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Editors' introduction : new interventionism but same old promises and perils? / Michael Heazle, Iyanatul Islam -- The new interventionism and the invasion of Iraq / Michael Wesley -- Competing US perspectives on Iraq / Ira Chernus -- Democratisation dilemmas : Iraq, the United States and political reform in the Middle East / Anthony Bubalo -- Cooperation and resistance under occupation : a complex web / Peter Khalil -- Post election Iraq : a case for declining optimism / John Hartley -- Islam and the West : where to from here? / Amin Saikal -- Covering (up) Islam part III : terrorism and the US intervention in Iraq / Michael Heazle -- Iraq's sovereign debt and its curious global implications / Ross P. Buckley -- Neoliberalism and post-Saddam Iraq : a global perspective / Iyanatul Islam.

This book critically analyses the topic of US-led external interventions in the affairs of developing countries by using one of the most contested experiments of modern times, namely, the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath. The March 2003 invasion of Iraq has so far failed to deliver the benefits and outcomes its supporters anticipated, prompting international discussion as to whether the promises of externally-led nation-building (as an attempt to mould rogue states in a democratic, market-friendly fashion) are outweighed by the kinds of pitfalls and perils of intervention that have come to characterise the Iraq experience. This book identifies and addresses the major issues emerging from the current debate including the evolution of external interventionism as an idea, an explanation of what went wrong in post-Saddam Iraq and why the Iraq experiment is flawed by the Bush administration's refusal to address long standing political and historical grievances among Muslims as part of the `War on Terror'. The contributors assess the troubled relationship between Islam and the West, the prospects for democracy in the Middle East, foreign policy debates in the US, and how economics and politics are juxtaposed in a highly contentious manner in any project of externally-driven nation-building. .

All.