Abstract

In September 2017, the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq held a referendum for independence despite the high likelihood of heavy retaliation. In contrast to the narrative that presents that decision as the result of gross miscalculation, this article offers an alternative explanation highlighting the role played by Kurdish nationalism in upholding the structures of power of the region. The current class structure, institutional framework and rentier economy of Iraqi Kurdistan had their origins in the 1990s when Kurdish forces gained permanent control of the region. The new ruling class that developed in that decade had a profoundly extractive character and based its power on a strategy of appropriation of the public resources pursued through the control of the political institutions and security forces. The 2017 independence referendum must be understood as an attempt to thwart the threat to this social arrangement represented by a wave of popular protests. These events reveal the profound connection between Kurdish nationalism and the region’s class structure. They also allow us to appreciate the – often neglected – political agency of the subaltern classes in a rentier society.

摘要

2017 年 9 月，伊拉克库尔德斯坦地区政府在极有可能遭到严重报复的情况下举行了独立公投。与将该决定作为严重误判的结果的叙述相反，本文提供了另一种解释，强调了库尔德民族主义在维护该地区权力结构方面所发挥的作用。伊拉克库尔德斯坦当前的阶级结构、制度框架和食利者经济起源于 1990 年代，当时库尔德军队获得了对该地区的永久控制权。在那个十年发展起来的新统治阶级具有深刻的榨取性质，其权力建立在通过控制政治机构和安全部队所追求的侵占公共资源的战略之上。必须将 2017 年的独立公投理解为试图挫败对这种以民众抗议浪潮为代表的社会安排的威胁。这些事件揭示了库尔德民族主义与该地区阶级结构之间的深刻联系。它们还使我们能够欣赏食利者社会中底层阶级的——经常被忽视的——政治能动性。