Abstract

The Iraq war defined the first decade of the twenty-first century – leading to mass protests and raising profound questions about domestic politics and the use of military force. Yet most explanations of the war have a narrow focus either on political personalities or oil.

Christopher Doran provides a unique perspective, arguing that the drive to war came from the threat Iraq might pose to American economic hegemony if the UN sanctions regime was ended. Doran argues that this hegemony is rooted in third world debt and corporate market access. It was protection of these arrangements that motivated US action, not Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction or a simplistic desire to seize its oil.

This book will provide new insights on the war which still casts a shadow over global politics, and will have wide appeal to all those concerned about the Middle East, world peace and global development.
'Doran's book provides a fresh and unconventional perspective on the origins of the war in Iraq and with it thought-provoking insights into the motivations of the US government when it invaded Iraq'
Sharon Beder, author of Free Market Missionaries and Suiting Themselves: How Corporations Drive the Corporate Agenda.
'A significant contribution to the scholarly literatures on neoliberalism and the US intervention in lraq. Insightful and compelling'
David McNally, York University, author of Global Slump: The Economics and Politics of Crisis and Resistance
'Doran pulls no punches in revealing the abuses of corporate and state power. This is a powerful account of how the expansion of the 'market economy' into unwelcoming territory is driven by an iron fist'
Frank Stilwell, Professor of Political Economy, University of Sydney