“Between Iraq and a Hard Place”: Urban Governance and Transnational Laboratories of

ABSTRACT: The American invasion of Iraq in 2003 has given life to new forms of political, economic and social realities in the region. As a result of the military and sectarian violence, it is estimated that more than 4.7 million people have been displaced internally and externally, making the current crisis a ‘humanitarian disaster. ’ This essay represents work in progress—a reflection on field notes and observations—of an ongoing research project on the post-American-invasion displacement of Iraqi communities in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. It focus on government and NGO-sponsored humanitarian interventions to highlight the various processes of urban governance emerging in the wake of the ‘surge ’ of the Iraqi refugee crisis in these countries. The essay explores the emerging biopolitical technologies and strategies negotiating the governance of the displaced and producing new social realities in different urban settings. The essay does not attempt to draw large conclusions, but rather sketches a cartography of how various states and humanitarian agencies are responding to different notions of national and transnational (in)security, while dealing with the crisis of displaced Iraqis, and to pose a set of questions as to what the implications of this might be. The American intervention and promise of ‘liberating ’ and ‘democratizing ’ Iraq ha