We often look at the 2011 protests that swept the region as monumental events that changed the Middle East and North Africa. Yet those protests also showed the intransigence of repressive forces, the staying power of old elites, and the doubling down of imperial interventions. It is in the midst of this context that 2019 and 2020 saw a new wave of protests and uprisings in Iran, Sudan, Algeria, Lebanon, Iraq, and most recently in Tunisia. In all but Iran and Tunisia, the uprisings were able to achieve quick initial victories by removing key political leaders, but they remain entangled in a prolonged and bloody struggle to achieve their full demands including the overhaul of the state. As in 2011, the 2019 protests are facing some of the similar challenges: pressure from the global economy, intervention from regional governments, and imperial intervention in the form of political, economic, and cultural meddling. In the face of these obstacles we also witnessed the emergence of new political cultures and subjectivities, which have undermined the credibility of the state. Indeed, in many countries ruling elites face an enduring crisis of legitimacy. In Iraq, they have responded by seeking foreign patrons to bolster their position. Using Iraq as the main case, this paper argues “proxy wars” are in part a response to political crises of legitimacy and have in many instances elicited nationalist sentiments from protestors. In the context of violent state responses, there is less patience for regionalism and transnationalism amongst protest movements as they become preoccupied with self-defense. Nationalist sentiments are more pronounced amongst the Iraqi diaspora, especially for those in the West. These trends are not specific to Iraq or the region, but part of global trends of increased nationalism in the context of a crisis of global capitalism. This paper explores these alarming trends by looking at Iraq both regionally and also situating Iraq and the region within larger systemic trends globally. Based on this analysis, the paper asks how do we grapple with the reassertion of nationalism in the context of a long history where sovereignty and self-determination has only ever been a façade for those that suffered through colonial and imperial aggression? What can we learn from the protest movements’ new language as well as strategies for moving beyond what seems at times to be an impasse of strategy and imagination?