Debt Without Taxation: Iraq, Syria, and the Crisis of Empires from the Mandates to the Cold War Era

From the beginning of the 1940s to the late 1950s, a silent revolution took place in Iraq and Syria regarding public debt. Since the nineteenth century, politicians had viewed the debt as a tool for imperialist control. At independence, however, the new authorities faced a “guns and butter” dilemma while dealing with imperial legacies and looking for ways to develop their countries. As they politically could not put taxes and tariffs on the agenda, which would have weakened their economic base, they resorted to build “legitimate” debts, contracting loans with international institutions and regional partners. Addressing the question of political representation—as parliamentary systems ruled both countries—this chapter highlights the entanglement between internal and external dynamics on the eve of the Cold War. In this particular context, public debt allowed for politics of “representation without taxation.”