The US invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq seem to highlight the capability of the United States to overthrow a given political order as well as the difficulties in building another order more favorable to their interests. That research is premised on the analytical necessity to interrogate the effects produced by the American presence in Iraq. Indeed, the effects of military actions cannot be studied independently from their underlying logic. In addition, one has to take into account the dialectical interaction between US military actions and those of the various actors at play in Iraq. Hence a strategic analysis, drawing on the Clausewitzian strategic theory and encompassing the reasoning, the articulation between ends, ways and means, and the interplay between the US and Iraqi actors. In the light of this analysis, military history gives way to a more sociological study of the use of force and of the civil-military relations. Furthermore, as military actions are inscribed in a broader and dynamic sociopolitical context, it is necessary to question the role of coercion in building a political order at the local level. At a higher level, this study questions Western States’ and international community’s claims to promote a liberal order in a context of state consolidation.
