Armed violence in Iraq: Militarizing the society and defying the principle of restricting the use of weapons to the state

Abstract

After giving an idea about the historical background of the previous limited forms of societal militarization in Iraq before the US invasion, this study concentrates on the serious and general attempts to militarize Iraqi society after 2003. The main argument revolves around first, how the United States, regional states and the sectarian policy insisted on weakening the official military establishment (army and police) and second how the different ruling religious-ethnic parties desire to have their own armed militias to defend their interests (political and economic). It also discusses arms proliferation, and how this policy is playing a big role in spreading arms out of state control. This phenomenon led to continued societal violence, an unstable state as well as social, economic and cultural regression.