Abstract
Between 1979 and 1991, three key incidents that impacted Iraq took place—the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, and the 1990–1991 Gulf War, just before the implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). In this period, EU exports to Iraq peaked at a high of $12.50 billion in 1982 and hit a low of $0.08 billion in 1991, while EU imports hit $4.86 billion in 1985 at its maximum and $0.20 billion in 1991 at its minimum.1 These high levels of trade were recorded despite the two wars involving Iran, Kuwait, and the US-led coalition (the Gulf War).2 During this time frame, EU-Iraqi trade continued, pointing to the failure of the EU’s peace-through-trade policy in this case. By demonstrating how and why the EU failed to prevent conflict and maintain peace through trade in Iraq between 1979 and 1991, this chapter provides the prelude to chapter 5, which is concerned with the same issue in Iraq between 1992 and 2009.
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Notes
This was made up of 34 countries and included the following EU countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom; see Rodney P. Carlisle, Persian Gulf War (New York: Infobase Publishing, 2003), 60. Hereafter referred to as the “US-led coalition.”
The term “Whirlwind War” was coined by Saddam Hussein and is cited in Robert Fisk, The Great War for Civilisation (London: Fourth Estate, 2005), 219.
Sarah Graham-Brown, Sanctioning Saddam: The Politics of Intervention in Iraq (London: IB Tauris, 1999), 214.
Francois Mitterrand (no date stated), cited in Tarek Y. Ismael, International Relations of the Contemporary Middle East: A Study in World Politics (New York: Syracuse University Press, 1986), 119.
Ahmad Naghibzadeh, “Western Europe and the War,” in Farhang Rajaee (ed.), Iranian Perspectives on the Iran-Iraq War (Florida: Florida University Press, 1997). 45.
John Chipman, “Europe and the Iran-Iraq War,” in Efraim Karsh (ed.), The Iran-Iraq War: Impact and Implication (London: Macmillan, 1988), 221–222.
Pat Gray, “Errors of an Administrative Nature? Explaining the Arms to Iraq Affair,” in Pat Gray and Paul ‘t Hart, Public Policy Disasters in Western Europe (London: Routledge, 1998), 119.
Iraqi Ministry of Planning, “Annual Abstract of Statistics 1990,” in Sovereignty, Territoriality and International Boundaries in South Asia, South West Asia and the Mediterranean Basin (London: SOAS, 1991), 6.
George Joffé, Sovereignty, Territoriality and International Boundaries in South Asia, South West Asia and the Mediterranean Basin (London: SOAS, 1991), 6.
Frederick W. Axelgard, Iraq in Transition: A Political, Economic and Strategic Perspective (London: Mansell, 1986), 37.
Gerard Collins (August 29, 1990), cited in Rory Miller, “The Politics of Trade and Diplomacy: Ireland’s Evolving Relationship with the Muslim Middle East,” Irish Studies in International Affairs 15 (2004): 134.
Alastair Finlan, The Gulf War 1991 (Oxford: Routledge, 2003), 14–15.
This aid and development assistance, in the words of the IMF, refer to financial contributions by foreign countries/governments, as well as nonfinancial services, in IMF, External Debt Statistics: Guide for Compilers and Users (IMF: Washington, DC, 2003), 263. Figures extracted from TMR “IFS.”
Festus U. Ohaegbulam, A Culture of Deference: Congress, the President, and the Course of the U.S-Led Invasion and Occupation of Iraq (New York: Peter Lang, 2007), 104.
Monica Crowley, Nixon in Winter: The Final Revelations, vol., part 2 (London: IB Tauris, 1998), 218.
Charles Tripp, A History of Iraq, 2nd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2002). 248.
Stephen Tibbett, “The Arms Trade and Development,” Campaign against Arms Trade (London: Saferworld, 1997), 3.
Paul Cornish and Royal Institute of International Affairs, The Arms Trade and Europe (London: Cassell, 1995), 20.
Edward J. Laurance, The International Arms Trade (New York: Lexington Books, 1992), 4.
Craft Cassady, Weapons for Peace, Weapons for War: The Effect of Arms Transfers on War Outbreak, Involvement and Outcomes (London: Routledge, 1999), 36.
H. N. Schwarzkopf, “A Tribute to the Navy-Marine Corps Team,” US Naval Institute Proceedings 118:8 (1991): 44.
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© 2015 Amir M. Kamel
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Kamel, A.M. (2015). Iraq, Part I: From the Iranian Revolution to the Gulf War (1979–1991). In: The Political Economy of EU Ties with Iraq and Iran. The Political Economy of the Middle East. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137439802_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137439802_4
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