The Kurds of Iraq: Building a State Within a State Ofra Bengio Ofra Bengio explores the dynamics of relations between the Kurds of Iraq and the Iraqi state from the inception of the Baath regime to the present. Bengio draws on a wealth of rich source materials to carefully trace the evolution of Kurdish national identity in Iraq. Dissecting the socioeconomic, political, and ideological transformations that Iraqi Kurdish society has undergone across some five decades, she focuses on the twin processes of nation building and state building. She also highlights the characteristics of the Kurdish movement in Iraq relative to Kurdish communities elsewhere in the region. This narrative of the profound vicissitudes of Iraqi Kurdish fortunes illuminates not only the complexities of politics within Iraq today, but also the influence of Iraqi Kurdistan on the geostrategic map of the entire Middle East. Ofra Bengio is professor in the Department of Middle East History at Tel Aviv University . Her previous publications in English include Saddam’s World: Political Discourse in Iraq and the coedited Minorities and the State in the Arab World.