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This article explores the Kingdom of Iraq under British Administration (1920–1932) in order to understand the ways in which the British conceived of Iraq as a state, a nation, and a territory. It seeks to demonstrate that the relatively liberal vision of the League of Nations, based on ideas of progress and civilization, was rapidly undermined by pragmatic considerations and the coercive measures adopted by the Mandatory power, which imposed a new order on the Iraqi people. Based on a centralizing policy that excluded all those who did not fit the Mandatory administration’s ideal of civilization, the policy of state-building implemented by the British in Iraq mainly reflected their own vision of the world and of Iraqi society. It also reflected their short-term interests, which impeded the building of a state in the service of a united Iraqi nation.