Jamestown Releases a New Occasional Paper

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — September 17, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC (9/17/07)–The Jamestown Foundation has released a new Occasional Paper titled "An Outline of Kurdish Islamist Groups in Iraq." The paper is authored by David Romano, an assistant professor of international studies at Rhodes College. This paper outlines the history and genesis of Kurdish Islamist groups in Iraq.

Romano draws on his extensive fieldwork experience, including personal interviews conducted in Iraq in 2003 and 2004, to demarcate the various Kurdish Islamist groups in Iraq, and how these groups have transformed to create new organizations. Additionally, he explains the role that the non-Kurdish Iraqi Muslim Brotherhood has played in generating these transitions. Romano concludes this paper by not only suggesting several possible strategies for the containment of radical Islamic movements, but also by noting problems that are likely to occur when formulating such strategies.

The full paper can be downloaded here.

Additional Occasional Papers are available in the Recent Reports section.

Founded in 1984, The Jamestown Foundation is an independent, non-partisan research institution dedicated to providing timely information concerning critical political and strategic developments in China, Russia, and Eurasia. Jamestown’s research and analysis is available to the public free-of-charge via Jamestown’s website, www.jamestown.org.