8.1 Introduction to the Analysis

(The latest version of this page is at Pattern Descriptions. An archived copy of this page is held at https://www.patternsofpower.org/edition02/81.htm)

This chapter analyses the question of whether good governance practice was followed when American politicians decided to invade Iraq and British politicians supported them. As noted in the introduction to this book, the speeches made by politicians before and after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 gave conflicting impressions of the reasons for it; justifications were suggested in all 5 dimensions of power. Some people, including the American President and the British Prime Minister, changed their message as events unfolded €“ adding to the confusion which was the stimulus for writing this book.

The analysis framework described in the previous chapters is used here to dissect the decision to invade. Some of the requirements for good governance (2.1) are particularly relevant; they are posed here as questions:

· Was the invasion likely to increase security for the stakeholders?

· Were British and American politicians responsive to their people's wishes and needs?

· Were they acting primarily in the interests of the people they served?

The question of peace and security is seen here as a multi-level question: the politicians concerned might have been expected to place most emphasis on the short-term security of America and Britain, but they could not safely ignore the anticipated impact on security in Iraq itself, in the region, and in the world as a whole. The next few sections examine the perspectives of different stakeholders:

· The UN is taken as representing the interests of the world as a whole;

· Iran, Syria, Turkey and Israel are very diverse countries in Iraq€™s neighbourhood;

· America was the prime mover in the decision to invade;

· Britain played a major role in supporting America;

· Iraq€™s population was clearly a stakeholder.

All of this information (and doubtless much more) needed to be taken into account before invading Iraq: it was the context for the decision-making process. The invasion of Iraq could not be seen as providing any kind of solution without examining its impact on all these stakeholders €“ and the consequent likelihood of an escalation of violence or a later recurrence of similar problems.

These stakeholder perspectives are used as source material for the analysis at the end of the chapter (8.7.1 onwards), which examines the justifications which were offered by politicians in each of the dimensions of power before highlighting some significant failings in governance.