Propaganda, state power and the press in the Post-Ottoman Middle East

This study explores the relationship between socio-political change in Mandatory Iraq and the transformation of European imperialism, while expanding the analytical lens through the incorporation of the colonial press. The transnational dimension of anti-colonial nationalism reveals the existence of a causal link between the evolution of British rule in India and the subsequent spread of anti-colonial nationalist sentiment into Mandatory Iraq. British officials viewed anti-colonial nationalism as an ideological contagion: if it emerged in the mandate territories it could spread elsewhere. At the front-lines of this process, the colonial press played an active role in reshaping the meaning of empire through its interactions with British officials, the Iraqi government, and the Iraqi public. Comparative analysis of the colonial press in India and Iraq reveals the agency of the colonized alongside British anxieties, while simultaneously shedding light on relations between British officials and their local intermediaries.