What explains exclusionary policies towards micro-minority groups under nation-building campaigns? During modern Iraq’s formative period, micro-minority groups such as the Assyrians, Turkmens, and Yazidis were among the larger ethnic groups that were victims of the state’s nation-building campaign. Existing studies on nation-building movements have demonstrated that relatively large, territorially concentrated, politically mobilized, and internationally connected groups are targeted during revisionist eras when they are perceived to pose a threat to the state and its agenda. However, the literature has yet to sufficiently explain why these small, incohesive, geographically dispersed, and minimally mobilized groups are targeted with violence or exclusionary policies during these campaigns when these factors typically pose little to no threat. This talk seeks to explain the targeted policies towards micro-minority groups during nation-building campaigns, as the literature neglects analysis on numerically small groups. Borrowing from the literature on nation and coalition-building, Isaac theorizes that micro-minorities are more likely to be targeted when they are perceived to or have already built coalitions with a larger ethnic group that threatens the state. This talk engages in archival analysis and process traces each group’s experience with the state in my case study of Iraq to determine the specific factors that lead to attacks against micro-minorities. Ultimately, Isaac finds that the state selectively targets micro-minority groups because of their perceived coalition-building capabilities or alliances with larger and more threatening groups.

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