THE IMPACT OF THE ECONOMIC EMBARGO ON IRAQI FAMILIES - RESTRUCTURING OF TRIBES, SOCIOECONOMIC CLASSES AND HOUSEHOLDS

The economic embargo imposed on Iraq since 2 August 1990 has had profo und effects on Iraqi family life. This paper attempts to explore these effects, concentrating on the ways in which families are coping with the stifling pressures of the embargo. People have been compelled to r esort to a variety of channels and strategics in their hard struggle f ar survival. Economic problems-including the ever-present threat of hu nger-are the most prominent features in the embargo panorama. This pap er also describes the decline of collective sentiments, a decline whic h the embargo has laid the ground for. The enormous difficulties of li ving have sapped peoples' emotional reserves and have thereby weakened their social ties. Families either use whatever money they make to bu y the bare necessities of life or stockpile it; they no longer devote any economic resources to the maintenance of social ties. The decline in sociability since the beginning of the embargo has affected and is affected by individual morale. Sometimes people have responded to the embargo as if it were a challenge, while at other times they vacillate between hope and despair. A third point covered by the paper is tile effect of the embargo on socio-economic stratification. The withdrawal of wealth from the kinds of social activities which formerly required large expenditures - and which continually reconstructed social relat ions - has been accompanied by an increasing economic polarization bet ween the poor and the wealthy. Old, respected urban families with cent uries of prestige and family traditions have become impoverished and m ust devote all of their resources to the struggle for survival. At the same time, a few uneducated rural families enjoy unprecedented prospe rity. This coupling of elite family decline with the rapid rise of cer tain rural families is a phenomenal parades that has been brought on b y the embargo. The distorted and lopsided social mobility is perceived by many Iraqis as chaotic and disorienting.