A+| A| A-
Two Decades after the Iraq War and the Political Imaginary of the Global South
The public dissent and opinion that was witnessed against the Iraq war and United States’ hegemonic power appear to have shaped the responses of neutrality on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine by the majority of countries in the global South.
The illegal invasion of Iraq in March 2003 prompted the biggest anti-war protests globally. People in 600 cities across the world held peace marches. What is underestimated two decades after this intervention is how the force of popular mobilisation and sentiment against this war across the global South influenced several government positions on it to the extent that they would bend and align their positions to the United States (US) foreign policy pressure.
Countries of the global South individually condemned the US-led invasion of Iraq, even as the United Nations (UN) secretary general at that time, Kofi Annan, only explicitly declared this war as illegal a year after the event (BBC 2004). It was, however, mass actions, public sentiments and discussions that influenced governments in several countries of the global South to take positions and make strategic choices on the Iraq invasion and later wars. Some critical responses are cited in this article.
Dear Reader,
Or
To gain instant access to this article (download).
(Readers in India)
(Readers outside India)
