THE IRAQ WAR: NEW PERSPECTIVES 37
This lack of theorisation in relation to peacekeeping has resulted in a blurred
conception of the nature of the operations, which proves problematic as state-building
requires long-term planning and policies. The concept of state-building is to be
understood as a means to maintain global security. In the post-9/11 context, and the
emphasis on global security threats, mainstream conflict scholars and practitioners
argue that state-building should be used to protect wealthy states from the security
threats that could emerge from poor, ‘underdeveloped’ states. The ‘good governance’
agenda has therefore linked security and development (Scott 2007). In order to
legitimise the war, the Bush administration took advantage of the gap between theory
and practice, by talking about ‘democracy’ and ‘state-building’, when its focus was
really on terrorism and American security. According to General Clayton Beattie (in
Ansari 2006: 138), peacekeeping and state-building require professionals who can
make “the psychological change from an adversary to a pacific role; from
confrontation to third party interposition. In peacekeeping there is no enemy... This
necessitates a full understanding of the causes of conflict – political, military and
economic – as well as the social and cultural environment”. In addition to this, Ansari
(2006: 138) argues that this transition can only happen when the conflict is over.
However, because peace-enforcement, state-building and peacekeeping are not
clearly separated, the activities that fall under each of these strategies tend to be either
ignored or implemented in inefficient ways. Cousens (2006: 60) argues that “there is
now a general acceptance that peace support operations are no longer activities that
take place in isolation from war-fighting but instead represent perhaps merely a
subset of ‘operations’ in the widest sense”. The war in Iraq shows how the nature of
these operations has evolved towards often violent, more complex long-term
operations.
The psycho-cultural dimension of the Iraq War
Contextualising the war in Iraq within the broader context of American foreign policy
helps to understand American and Iraqi worldviews. This psycho-cultural dynamic of
conflict is often underestimated, yet it clearly influenced the conduct of the war and
the process of reconstruction on both sides. Avruch, Black and Scimecca (1991) and
Ross (2007) emphasise the constitutive role of culture in conflict. People’s