Ali Allawi is an Iraqi politician and author. From 2003-2004 he served as Minister of Trade and Minister of Defence in the cabinet appointed by the Interim Iraq Governing Council. Subsequently, he was Minister of Finance between 2005-2006 in the Iraqi Transitional Government. He has since authored several books on Iraq and the region: The Occupation of Iraq: Winning the War, Losing the Peace, as well as The Crisis of Islamic Civilization and most recently Faisal I of Iraq.

In research on 'mass killings' such as genocides and campaigns of state terror, the role of ideology is hotly debated. For some scholars, ideologies are crucial in providing the extremist goals and hatreds that motivate ideologically committed people to kill. But many other scholars are skeptical: contending that perpetrators of mass killing rarely seem ideologically committed, and that rational self-interest or powerful forms of social pressure are more important drivers of violence than ideology.

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