THE DETERIORATION OF CIVIL SOCIETY AND OPPOSITION POLITICS IN THE POLICE STATE OF SADDAM HUSAYN By

This thesis will survey Iraqi political and social history from the earliest years of the monarchy to the Iran-Iraq War, but focus mainly on the years between the second Ba„th takeover in 1968 and 1980, when Saddam Husayn was rooted firmly in power and the leadership of opposition parties was broken, disorganized, imprisoned, and in exile. The focus of my thesis will be the methods and resources used by the Ba„th party and Saddam Hussein to take control and maintain control of the Iraqi state. These include cultural production, propaganda, and, most insidiously, the secret police. I also plan to write about opposition parties – religious and secular – and their mostly frustrated attempts to push back against the tide of Ba„thism after 1968