Instrumentalization of Chaos: Habit and Crisis Routine for Constructing (in)security in Iraq

This study argues that the relations between the various identity groups that constitute Iraq and the developments experienced in the country after independence constitute a ‘crisis routine’ and that ‘habit through routines’ provides ontological security. In this context, the study explains ontological security in Iraq through the basic threat perceptions of social groups and the habits they have developed. It is aimed to contribute to the literature by offering a different perspective for the ontological security studies of the phenomenon of habituation, which is a concept based on psychology and sociology and rarely used in international relations. In this sense, the concept will be used within the framework of deepening the concept of routine. The study reveals that the routinization of crisis in Iraq creates a form of stability that maintains the identity of existing social actors and depends on the continuation of the crisis. Large-scale crises in Iraq, events affecting different identity groups and developments that disrupt the routine and cause uncertainty will be explained with the concept of crisis routine. The levels of habituation created by the crisis routine order in society produce various results in different segments of society. Habituation within the scope of identity will be exemplified by the ontological security perception of the Shiites, one of the country’s components. These dangerous habits also prevent the adoption of a common Iraqi identity.