The Kurdish Nationalist Movement: Opportunity, Mobilization and Identity

Cambridge Middle East Studies

by David Romano

David Romano focuses on the Kurdish case to generally try and make sense of ethnic nationalist resurgence. In a world rent by a growing number of such conflicts, the questions posed about why, how and when such challenges to the state arise are becoming increasingly urgent. Throughout the author analyzes these questions through the lens of social movement theory, considering in particular politico-social structures, resource mobilization strategies and cultural identity. His conclusions offer some thought-provoking insights into Kurdish nationalism, as well as into the strengths and weaknesses of various social movement theories.

Genres: History, Politics

292 pages, Paperback

First published February 3, 2006

About the author

David Romano holds the Thomas G. Strong Chair in Middle East Politics at Missouri State University. Romano's work has appeared in journals such as International Affairs, The Oxford Journal of Refugee Studies, Third World Quarterly and Ethnopolitics. He writes a weekly political column for Rudaw, an Iraqi Kurdish newspaper, and has have spent several years living and/or conducting field research in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Israel and Palestine.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhere in this book is a good (if partisan) 100-to-150-page monograph analyzing the rise of the PKK and how it in turn shaped the rise of Kurdish nationalist feeling in general. But this monograph is submerged in an attempt to show the various good points and flaws of three theoretical frameworks for analyzing the rise of nationalist movements in general, and potted histories of Kurdish nationalism in Iraq and Iran that seem tacked on to take advantage of interest in those countries. Somewhat worthwhile, but not clearly a "good read."