2017 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
The role of the Popular Mobilization Forces in the Iraqi conflict and its influence as a non-state actor
Project/Area Number |
17F17785
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Research Institution | Tokyo University of Foreign Studies |
Principal Investigator |
篠田 英朗 東京外国語大学, 大学院総合国際学研究院, 教授 (60314712)
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Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
AL TUMA ALI 東京外国語大学, その他部局等, 外国人特別研究員
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Project Period (FY) |
2017-10-13 – 2020-03-31
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Keywords | Iraq / Middle East / PMF / ISIS / Shia / Sunni / Justice / Non state armed group |
Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
A research of the current publications on the topic of the Popular Mobilization Forces was conducted. Interview questions for the field research was prepared. The researcer also joined the transitional justice project direct by Cale Salih of the UNU. He went to a field research trip to the Middle East and there he authorized the conduct of a survey among the Iraqi Shia population in the mid-Euphrates region on the topic of justice towards captured ISIS subjects. He also conducted a number of relevant interviews on the subject of the military and security role and Impact of the Popular Mobilization Forces. Interviewees included religious representatives of the Shia religious authority, Iraqi politicians and former politicians and journalists and academics, military commanders.
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Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
Preparation of two papers: 1-on justice towards ISIS suspects 2-the PMF military prospects within the Iraqi security apparatus. First paper will go online on the website of UNU in the third week of May 2018.
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Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The plan is to monitor the result of the Iraqi elections in May 2018 and its impact on the Mobilization Forces in Iraq. The fellow will also conduct a number of interviews with Iraqi politicians, Iraqi commanders of Mobilization Forces, Iraqi NGOs, journalists, and American commanders of the coalition to defeat ISIS and train the Iraqi security forces, through phone, skype and live interviews. Live interviews with American commanders might either be conducted on site in Kuwait or remotely. The fellow will proceed to publish a paper on the treatment of Iraqi justice towards ISIS suspects on the website of the UNU, based on a survey in Iraq, as well as a short op-ed version of the paper. He will also work to publish another paper on the military and political justifications of the continued presence of the Mobilization Forces within the Iraqi security apparatus, as well as a short op-ed version of the paper.
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