Reidar Visser is a research fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. He holds a doctorate in middle-eastern studies from the University of Oxford. He is the author of Basra, the Failed Gulf State: Separatism and Nationalism in Southern Iraq (Lit-Verlag, 2005), the first study ever on a specific case of southern separatism in Iraq. Many of his writings on questions of federalism, autonomy and decentralisation in southern Iraq are available at his website, historiae.org.

Recent articles

The conflict in Basra is part of a wider political struggle over the future of Iraq, says Reidar Visser.

Iraqis themselves must be at the centre of any attempt to make President Bush's new strategy for their country a political success, says Reidar Visser.

The voices of Iraqi patriotism in Basra are a rebuke to western advocates of the country’s fragmentation, says Reidar Visser.

The supporters of an Iraq divided into three ignore the lessons of Iraq's history, says Reidar Visser.