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    Occupational Hazards
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    Occupational Hazards
    Unavailable
    Occupational Hazards
    Ebook107 pages1 hour

    Occupational Hazards

    By Stephen Brown and Rory Stewart

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    ‘It’s democracy. Everyone is equally unhappy. It’s the defining feature of the system’

    September 2003. Rory Stewart, a thirty year old former British diplomat, is posted to serve as governor in a province of the newly liberated Iraq. His job is to help build a society at peace with itself and its neighbours – an ambitious mission, admittedly, but outperforming Saddam should surely not prove too difficult…

    Stephen Brown’s new play, based on Rory Stewart’s critically acclaimed memoir Occupational Hazards, tells an extraordinary story about the moral conflicts, the dangers and the comic absurdities inherent in any foreign occupation.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOberon Books
    Release dateApr 28, 2017
    ISBN9781786821737
    Unavailable
    Occupational Hazards
    Author

    Stephen Brown

    Stephen Brown is Emeritus Professor of Learning Technologies and former Head of the School of Media and Communication at De Montfort University. He has been Senior Technology Adviser at the JISC Technologies Centre, Head of Distance Learning at BT, Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor in Engineering Design, and President of the Association for Learning Technology. He has also been a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and an Associate Member of the Institute for Ergonomics and Human Factors. Since 2005, he has been a registered European Commission research expert in the fields of Technology Enhanced Learning, Digital Libraries and Cultural Heritage. He was a member of the AHRC Peer Review College for ten years.

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    Reviews for Occupational Hazards

    4/5

    135 ratings12 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Another excellent book by Rory Stewart, this recounts his time in Iraq helping to rebuild the nation after the coalition invasion of the early 2000s. He calls into question the logic behind the coalitions attempts to create in Iraq a modern democracy, suggesting that there was no concrete plan, no sense of achievable objectives, and no hope for success in this country that never invited invaders to come in and deal with Saddam in the first place.
    • 4/5
      Stewart conveyed the sense of tribal loyalties and religious differences, which have always governed the political management of the Mesopotamia. The Marsh Arabs are distinct people in the area called 'Iraq' and this recounting of an interim government is spot on. There was humour coupled with cynicism and certainly ineptitude in the expat hierarchy. The portrayals of day to day life were brilliant. However, some of the author's writing in this book was rather dreadful, not typical of his ability for incisive observation and clarity, such as in "The Places in Between".
    • 4/5
      Rory Stewart takes on a various government roles in the provinces of Iraq during 2003 and 2004. The reading I have done on the occupation and the CPA have either been from the point of view of the military or very Baghdad centric. This is the view from the forntline of the occupation in South Iraq,. The attempt to crow bar Western ideals into Iraqi culture and it underlines the absolute futlity of 99% of the work attempted in that first year. How anyone could keep their patience when met with incompetence, misunderstandings, deceit and cowardice to the level seen here is beyond my understanding. Bureaucracy seems determined to make life tough for itself, the military are playing by their own rules but they won't share the rulebook, the bewildering number of factions seem more interested in hamstringing each other rather than moving forward. It is a tragicomic tale and while don't agree with all of RS's conclusions I do applaud his efforts and recommend this book to anyone puzzled as to how we made such a mess of the whole situation.
    • 5/5
      A memoir of a Scottish eccentric of the old (and by "old" I mean "Chinese Gordon") breed, who, fresh from walking across Iran and Afghanistan in 2002, decided to live dangerously by serving as a provincial governor in Iraq under the CPA. He proceeded to discover that when you're trying to administer a restive local population for a foreign army trying to keep its country safe, you will very quickly learn to understand Pontius Pilate; and, that if your personal security is entirely provided by Italians, you might as well kill yourself now and spare yourself the stress. (Luckily, the author had an American gunship and US and UK security contractors to call on.)If you've ever wondered what went right in Iraq, what went wrong, and why I would vote for David Petraeus as dictator of the world, you'll find out here. Extremely interesting reading; and you'll learn a great deal about the cultures of the Iraqis (who don't deserve the hand history, by which I mean Saddam, dealt them, but many of whom aren't trying all that hard to improve it), the US military (much more principled, and indeed more intellectual, than Hollywood would have you think), and the Italians (if you think they're any less contemptible than they were in WWII, you're wrong).
    • 4/5
      When Rory Stewart is tapped by the Coalition government to help run one of Iraq's southern provinces, it seems to be a surprise to everyone, including Rory. And what the author finds there is even more surprising. At a time when Iraq is quickly becoming known for its violence, it is clear that the Coalition government in Baghdad has little power and even less help for Rory and the mixed bag of Brits and Americans in charge of the province. Between attempting to learn Arabic, dealing with Iraqi tribal leaders, power-hunger military leaders and Islamic extremists, Rory does his best to create a stable government run by the Iraqis, an effort that is constantly undermined.Overall, a fascinating look into how Iraq's provinces were lead in the early days of the occupation, and how any success was more luck and force of will and firepower than a thought out effort by the occupying Americans.
    • 5/5
      "Occupational Hazards" is Rory Stewart's memoir of his time as deputy governor of two of Iraq's southern provinces. Like his previous book, "The Places In Between", it's a good read, thoughtful, well-written, and an insight into a place which very few other Westerners are likely to be. Unlike its predecessor, though, this isn't a travel book; but then it doesn't quite fit the mould of the Iraq debacle post-mortem, either. This is a book immersed in detail: what it was actually like trying to govern day-to-day. Apart from an epilogue, Stewart avoids analysis of the wider context, although this doesn't stop him building up a pretty clear picture of the problems. His story is often absurd or even farcical - early on, Stewart points out the contrast between his vast power (on paper) and scant authority to back that up, and he wrings a grim humour from the parallel-universe instructions he receives from head offices in Basra and Baghdad. Tellingly, the majority of the chapter epigrams are from either Machiavelli or Don Quixote.Stewart comes across as sensible, and reasonably alert to local culture and nuance - although he's clearly a thorn in the side of some of his colleagues. At one point he laments, "we were not allowed to return to our office [after a serious insurgent attack]. My superiors said that whatever my work had been, it wasn't worth getting killed for. This seemed a pretty depressing statement of how serious we were about the occupation". This brought me up short when I first read it - but it fitted with the overall picture of the lack of clear thinking about what the conflict aimed to achieve. The overwhelming impression is that the people who were setting the agenda believed that anything was possible, however limited the resources - from time and money to people and skills.In particular, the question that came out most strongly for me was that of security. Restoring security was the linchpin of everything the Coalition Provisional Authority was trying to achieve - so, expeditiously, they selected existing networks and groups who could act as a police force. But this ignored the fact that while in the developed world we implicitly accept the social contract involved (that the state is entitled to the monopoly of force because it also has responsibilities to use that force for the good of the people), there was nothing in ordinary Iraqis' experience to explain this - making the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate use of force much more arbitrary.Stewart does not discuss this directly - and indeed, in the main body of the book, says little about his feelings about the job he had been assigned. However, in his epilogue (which I think was added to the paperback version of the book), he argues clearly that only the Iraqi people can credibly tackle the problems which they are facing.
    • 2/5
      A bit disappointed by Rory's testimonial on his Iraqi experience. I've been enthralled by his Afghan adventure and was eager to follow him through the meanders of the Iraqi quagmire expecting a new, fresh and witty eye on the biggest lie of the century. I ended up feeling very frustrated, wondering where this courageous, iconoclast farsi-speaking Scottsman had gone. Iraqi society is complex, multi layered and unfit to democracy: wow, major breakthrough. Why on earth did he go there?
    • 5/5
      This book really brought home the tragicomedy of good intentions and bad planning characterizing the American, er coalition, occupation of Iraq. The young British diplomat is really trying to understand and do good, but he (at least in the retrospect of this book) sees how futile the effort was. They didn't have the resources, the cultural knowhow, or ultimately the Machiavellian resources to make lasting change.
    • 5/5
      A cool and canny young Scottish diplomat tells of his daily deal-making with wily Arab officials and tribal leaders in Southern Iraq during the occupation by the Coalition Provisional Authority. His 12-month tour begins in hope yet ends in disillusionment at the sad inadequacies of both East and West in a clash of cultures. Stewart craftily notes a similar history has often dogged the region even as long as four thousand years ago when invaders routed King Sulgi of Ur and looted his treasure. The publisher's proofreading is notably deficient.
    • 4/5
      A close up look at the occupation by one of its governors. Stewart is a Brit with varied international experience and a lot of practical sense. He goes into the convoluted ties and intrigues of southeastern Iraq and through his experiences conveys the complex social structure which may be unable to support a democracy.
    • 5/5
      Well written account of the 2003 coalition government by a British diplomat.
    • 5/5
      On-the-ground tutorial on how not to conquer a country by the 21st Century's own Sir Richard Burton.