of the Shawwaf uprising, al-Bazzaz was arrested and tortured. After his release, al-Bazzaz went to Egypt, where he became the dean of the Institute of Arab Studies at the Arab League. Al-Bazzaz was a prolific writer. He published more than twelve books about law, Iraq's history, Arab nationalism and Islam. In his writings, he saw no obvious contradiction between Arab nationalism and Islam. Arab nationalism was not based on race or solidarity of blood. It was based on ties of language, history, spirituality and basic interests in life. In addition to being a religious belief, Islam was viewed as a social system, a philosophy of life, a system of economics and of government. Al-Bazzaz strongly promoted the rule of law and wanted to see an end to military officers dominating Iraq's politics as they had since the revolution in July 1958. Political career Al-Bazzaz returned to Iraq after the military overthrew the Qasim administration in 1963. From 1963 to 1966, President Abd al-Salam Arif appointed al-Bazzaz to several government positions. He was selected as ambassador to the United Arab Republic and later he became the ambassador to England. In 1964 and 1965, he was the secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. In September 1965, he was appointed as deputy prime minister. The then prime minister, Arif Abd ar-Razzaq, tried to start a revolt and seize power. However he was unsuccessful and President Arif invited al-Bazzaz to form a new government. Al-Bazzaz was the first civilian prime minister of Iraq. During his time as prime minister, Al-Bazzaz's government became increasingly controlled by civilian politicians. He replaced the Revolutionary Military Council with the National Defence Council and limited its functions to defence and internal security. The political system was open compared with previous regimes. As prime minister, Al-Bazzaz held numerous news conferences and appeared on radio and television. Constructive criticism was encouraged, and he promised to restore parliamentary life and hold elections as soon as possible. Al-Bazzaz announced the First Five Year Plan which advocated prudent socialism and attempted to balance the public and private sectors. He advocated joint ventures between the public and private sectors as well as between foreign and domestic investors. He favoured a theory of prudent socialism which sought to increase production without abandoning equal distribution. Another policy that al-Bazzaz tried to institute was the formal recognition of the Kurds. This was to be achieved through