Outgroups Indicate Barriers to Civil Society in Iraq

一个统一的民族国家,对于公民来说，要求平等和法治，保障获得食物、住所、衣服，来获得他们的未来。外围集团、群际定义或认知之间的彼此差异在不同的位置。下面的paper代写范文继续进行讲述。

Abstract 
At the Iraq "liberation" in 2003, many of us asked, "Is there really hope for civil society to emerge from the chaos?" We guessed about how Sunni, Shi'a and Kurdish factions could be brought together, and if it was likely that ethnic conflicts would lead to civil war. Seeking a better understanding of the situation, this project tried to address: "How do Iraqis' ethnic and religious identities relate to perceptions of other groups (outgroups)?" and "how does place of residence relate to those perceptions about outgroups?" I collected 479 surveys of Iraqi opinions in Iraq, Jordan, and The Netherlands. I asked Iraqis for their own ideas about their future, personal and collective, and their perceptions of Those Other Groups, their "outgroups." What did I find? That background items of religion, ethnic origin, and location, alone, did not relate strongly to respondents’ attitudes towards outgroups. But, some combinations of background items did give significant differences in perceptions towards other groups. For example, "moderate” Arabs in Iraq were the group most opposed to foreigners, and were the group most opposed to expatriate Iraqis returning to Iraq. This project, and the follow-up project on social networks of Iraqis, presents one approach from which researchers and fieldworkers can develop theories to explore and explain elements of civil society in Iraq, and beyond.

Introduction 
The 2003 change of government in Iraq set up opportunity for a different Iraq to emerge: a unified nation-state, with some degree of civil society and tolerance by each of the main ethnic groups for each others' rights to: -equality before and rule by law -secure access to food, shelter, and clothing -equal voice to shape their future. Unfortunately, there was no body of literature available on: -tribal or intergroup confederations, allegiances, or compositions -ingroup, outgroup, or intergroup definitions or perceptions of each other -differences between intergroup perceptions in different locations I also could not find research instruments designed to measure intergroup perceptions of Iraqi peoples. All together, this seemed a unique opportunity to explore intergroup relations in a regimechange context.

How can we compare outgroup perceptions? 
Nelson claims that traditional prejudice and bias research relies upon measures that can confuse a specific emotional response with a general group stereotype.5 For example, bias is usually measured as the difference between how we see our own group and how we see That Other Group. My opinion is that exploring bias and prejudice between and among groups in Iraq needs to access both open and hidden personal viewpoints on outgroups. For example, a common media expression now is that Iraqis hate Americans. That is not true. There is no national hatred of Americans. Yes, there are some groups, and many individuals who hate America, or Americans. But not all groups and certainly not all individuals.

Surveying Process 
Basic research goals and research questions were defined and the survey was emailed to professional Iraqi translators, with explanations given by email and by telephone calls before I arrived in Jordan. Surveys were tested with Iraqi friends of friends, before I traveled to Iraq. Appendix 2 shows a sample of the English, non-primed version of the survey. To find surveyors in Iraq, I looked for groups of young Iraqi men. In the groups, I found a few that would complete for me a survey on the "Social Community of Iraqis." After we went through the survey together, I asked them if they would like to help interview others in the same way. We went back through the survey again, discussing any points of confusion. 

They asked if I could pay. I agreed, negotiated a reasonable price, gave them an advance of half of the agreed price, and sent them out with a pile of survey forms, a number of pens, and large envelopes in which to carry the forms. A sample of the instructions given (orally) is in Appendix I, "Sample of Instructions Given to Surveyors." Data was collected through "snowballing", that is, going to close friends who would not reject their first attempts, collect opinions, and then ask them to find others who would also give opinions. Respondents were not selected completely at random, they were not part of a complicated, stratified sampling, and they were not completely independent from previous association with the surveyor. My preference was to move fast. Given the violence and uncertainty in Iraq at that time, I was grateful to have collected data with no harm to any of the surveyors. Later in 2003, other organizations also collected opinions on quality of life and political situations. 

Their research cost some of them them more than ten times the price per survey as mine, but they did extensive oral interviews on economics and politics and as well as more-traditional census items, and their surveyors often collected only a few surveys per day due to travel curfews and fear for safety. I do appreciate their contributions in Iraq. Respondents were interviewed (almost always), in homes, sometimes with two or three adult members of a family completing the surveys at the same time with the surveyor guiding the process and answering questions.

Location-Specific Differences in Collection 
In Baghdad, I contacted a former friend to ask for his help. I also joined a food distribution project to meet a large number of people, and found two respondents willing to collect surveys for me in their home communities. In Basra, I found two students eager to answer questions and to collect from others. They were asked to interview twenty-five people each, with one student working in the Basra city area, and the other in two provincial areas outside of Basra. In Amman, Jordan, and Leiden, the Netherlands, I contacted students who were willing to collect surveys. In Jordan and in the Netherlands, I also offered an English language version of the form in the event that some respondents could not read Arabic.

Conclusions Content
The findings from my study of perceptions of outgroups in Iraq include the following outcomes with respect to my purposes of the project. 
1. Ethnic and religious identities, alone, did not relate directly to perceptions of outgroups. There were no strong perceptions that could be directly attributed to only ethnicity or to religion. In future surveys, there needs a stronger differentiation for other ethnic and religious identities, such as Armenian, Chaldean, Assyrian, Turkoman and Mandaean, as well as those with foreign ancestry. 
2. Different survey locations did reveal differing perceptions towards the repatriation of foreign-living Iraqis, and towards other outgroup perceptions. That is, people in different places expressed different perceptions about groups different from themselves. 
3. There were differences in perceptions of threat or domination by foreign states. That is, not all Iraqis expressed the same perceptions about anything or any state! 
4. There was considerable difference in opinion about the return of a Saddam-like government. This work began in May 2003, when his location was still unknown to most people. 
5. Questions relating to education and number of children were not answered reliably by all respondents.

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