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LEXINGTON,
Kentucky. (Jan. 17) − Robert Olson, professor of
Middle East politics at the University of Kentucky,
has published “The Goat and the Butcher: Nationalism
and State-formation in Kurdistan-Iraq since the
Iraqi War” (2005). Olson’s book analyzes the
competition and struggle between nationalism (the
goat), capitalism (the butcher) and enthonationalism
(the Kurds), and the processes of state formation
using Kurdistan-Iraq as a case study. He will hold a
book signing at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, at
Joseph-Beth Booksellers.
In order to have coherence and add lucidity to
theoretical models, Olson’s study focuses on the
processes and development in Kurdistan-Iraq and how
they were affected and implemented as a result of
the U.S. war against and occupation of Iraq from
March 2003 to Feb. 1, 2005. It analyzes the
processes of state formation in Kurdistan-Iraq
within the context of Arab (both Sunni and Shi’a),
Turkish and Iranian nationalism.
A third focus of the book demonstrates how Turkey,
Syria and Iran, all with large Kurdish populations
of their own, cooperated, however unsuccessfully, to
limit the development of Kurdish state formation in
Iraq on their own Kurdish populations and Kurds’
desire for a state independent of Arab Iraq. Olson
concludes that by the time of the national assembly
elections in Iraq on Jan. 30, 2005, Kurdistan was
well on its way to becoming independent—a
development aided greatly by the U.S. invasion and
occupation of Iraq.
“I had book signings at the Middle East Institute
and the Middle East Studies Meeting in November in
Washington, DC. I was gratified by the turn-out. It
indicates the increasing public interest in the
consequences of the U.S. invasion and occupation of
Iraq, and what it augurs for American domestic
politics,” Olson said.
The second printing, scheduled for early 2006, will
be in paperback in order to increase its appeal to a
wider audience. Olson is considered to be a leading
international authority on aspects of trans-national
Kurdish nationalism. He is the author of eight
books, five of which have been translated nine times
into five languages: Arabic, Persian, Turkish,
Kurdish and French, as well as 80 scholarly
articles. Olson is one of only seven Albert B. and
Elizabeth H. Kirwan University Professors at UK.
Media Contact: Jennifer T. Allen, (859) 257-1754
www.uky.edu
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