War Economy Armed Conflicts in Iraq after 2003: An Analytical Sociological Study

Abstract

Modern theories in understanding conflicts focus largely on the political economy of war as a catalyst that fuels conflicts and their continuity, as Iraq is witnessing a continuous state of conflicts after 2003, and it is closely related to the economic abundance of resources, where the various economic resources represented an economic flood that helped armed groups to form and continue, but it It has begun to establish conflicts under the pretext of religious and regional identities in order to enhance its resources through war, and this is what our current study has dismantled, and one of the most important findings of the research are / 1. Because of the debts of the former regime during the Kuwait war and the Iran war, the first signs of the emergence of the war economy and the black economy were established in Iraq. 2. The internal conflicts operated through organized crime networks that form on two levels, the first during the time of the previous regime and the second after 2003. 3. The armed groups' reliance on illegal ways to support their economy are oil smuggling, money laundering, crimes, and drug smuggling. 4. Armed groups are linked to regional and international war economy networks that support the continuation of the conflict in Iraq. 5. Armed groups reproduce themselves as social and political actors through national reconciliations, ending conflicts and political settlements.