Iraq began its existence as a formally independent state in an ambiguous way. The British presence was as visible as before, with most of the British advisers and officials staying at their posts for the time being, a British military mission training the Iraqi army and the RAF retaining control of the bases at Habbaniyya and Shuʿaiba. British-owned companies were as conspicuous as ever in all the major sectors of the economy and British influence on the king and his ministers remained strong. Nevertheless, Iraqi politics were increasingly shaped by distinctively Iraqi forces which had emerged in the preceding decade as the state had begun to take on greater definition. Against a background of communal and rural unrest and disputes about the nature of Iraq itself as a community, intense rivalry for patronage and fierce competition between client networks for influence characterised this regime of power.

These processes drew in different political worlds and histories, obliging their protagonists to cohabit a world of Iraqi state politics, defined by those who controlled the centre, sometimes creating commonalities, but also exacerbating differences. It was a world that was increasingly secular in nature, revolving around questions of economic privilege and around calls for redistribution of wealth and the assertion of fundamental rights, as well as around varying interpretations of national identity and duty. Sectarian and communal identities were often important in shaping people's responses to these various issues and could surface at moments of crisis, but they by no means determined those responses.