Arthur Néron-Bancel
Intra-group and center-periphery competition, and the logics of power consolidation in Iraq post-2003
This essay explores the logics and strategies of power that have shaped the interactions between competing Shi’a Muslim political actors in Iraq since 2003. More specifically, our analysis tries to shed light on Maliki’s attempts to extend his growing power in Baghdad outward to the country’s Shi’a-dominated southern regions.
By approaching this dimension of Iraqi politics from the specific angle of Maliki’s attempts to consolidate his control over the Iraqi state, we try to show that Maliki’s strategies reflect the critical importance of both intra-group and center-periphery power struggles in processes of elite bargaining that drive state-building.
Furthermore, the objective is to show that in Iraq the evolution of these complex processes of political competition has been shaped by a framework of opportunities and constraints determined primarily by four factors:
1) the nature of political elites,
2) the specific historical, socio-cultural and economic context of Iraq,
3) the formal legal and institutional framework established by the state-building process, and
4) the role and influence of international actors.
Professor: Dipali Mukhopadhyay
Date: May 2014
Words: 11,300
Lessons for post-conflict constitution-making
This is a critical assessment of the international community’s role during the process of constitution-drafting in Iraq post-2003.
The central argument is that the principal failures of the Iraqi constitution-making experience lie not in the weaknesses of the final document itself. Neither should they be attributed to a lack of available constitutional expertise during the drafting process. Rather, the most important lesson is that the whole process was undermined by the imposition of an unrealistically short timetable. Determined by the tremendous political pressures that arose during the process, the unrealistic delays led to a constitution-writing process which focused too much on the production of a sophisticated yet ‘inorganic’ legal document that adhered to international standards and norms without sufficiently accommodating the unique challenges of Iraq’s local context.
View from this perspective, the failures of the Iraqi constitution provide powerful support to the argument that constitution-making, particularly in post-conflict settings, must be an extended and inclusive collective exercise that serves to build a broad national consensus around a negotiated blueprint for a new political order that is perceived as legitimate and organic.
Professor: Dipali Mukhopadhyay
Date: December 2013
Words: 4,000
How oil rents can affect long-term political and economic development by shaping institutional development at a critical juncture
The following essay will examine the processes of state formation in Iraq in the years following 2003. This period in Iraq provides a particularly interesting case study for the structural-institutional effects of massive natural resource wealth in a context of rapid socio-political change and weak, developing state institutions. After offering a simple theoretical framework which will guide our approach to processes of institutional change and reform, we will explore the dynamic interplay between several key variables in determining the shape and form of institutional, bureaucratic and administrative structures during the early stages of state-building in Iraq since 2003.
Professor: Steffen Hertog, Bassem Snaije
Date: April 2013
Words: 4,600
Divide and rule? The prominence of sectarianism in Iraqi society: Between social phenomenon and political reality.
This essay revolves around a discussion on the socio-political dynamics of sub-national collective identities in post-2003 Iraq. The focus is specifically on Shi’a-Sunni sectarian identities, in an effort to understand how the resurgence of this cleavage in Iraqi society has shaped the early stages of nation-state building.
The argument is two-fold. On the one hand, we take a more theoretical approach to suggest that, in spite of strong traditional sub-national ethno-sectarian identities in Iraqi society, the current fragmentation does not necessarily preclude the (re)establishment of an over-arching integrated national identity supporting a stable central political authority anchored in a form of inclusive, rational-legal (rather than traditional-patrimonial) legitimacy. On the other hand, we show that in practice events since 2003 mark a worrying trend towards the institutional formalization of sectarianism in the new emerging Iraqi central state.
In the absence of rapid reforms, these trends are certain to jeopardize the country’s long-term socio-political development.
Concluding remarks point to the risk that the Iraqi state’s massive oil rents may incentivize the resort to sectarianism by political elites as a repressive tool to divide and control the Iraqi population.
Professor: Stephane Lacroix
Date: April 2013
Words: 5,500
This fact sheet highlights the status and challenges of women in Iraq.
It was produced on the occasion of International Women's Day while at the UN's Inter-agency Information and Analysis Unit (IAU) on Iraq, with support from colleagues for the map and graphic design.
Date: March 2012
This fact sheet discusses issues pertaining to sustainable development, governance & natural resource management, and green economy in Iraq.
It was produced on the occasion of the Rio +20 conference, while at the UN's Inter-agency Information and Analysis Unit (IAU) on Iraq, with support from colleagues for the map and graphic design.
Date: July 2012
This fact sheet discusses Iraq's very urgent environmental challenges, relating to the combined impacts of climate change and poor environmental conservation and resource management in a context of protracted socio-political instability.
Produced while at the UN's Inter-agency Information and Analysis Unit (IAU) on Iraq, with support from colleagues for the map and graphic design.
Date: July 2012
With the new dynamics and direction of the international system since the end of the Cold War, some of the most polarizing and consequential arguments in recent decades have revolved around the issue of humanitarian intervention. A relatively recent topic of contention in debates about international laws and ethics, a humanitarian intervention can be defined as "the threat or use of force across state borders by a state (or group of states) aimed at preventing or ending widespread and grave violations of the fundamental human rights of individuals other than its own, without the permission of the state within whose territory force is applied."
While there are various different areas of controversy surrounding humanitarian interventions, this paper will discuss the critical influence that strictly political considerations have on the instigation and development of conflicts justified by the protection of fundamental human rights.
More precisely, we will focus on two recent cases, the Rwandan genocide in 1994 and invasion of Iraq in 2003, in order to examine how the political agendas of powerful states often determine the interplay and the balance between two clashing sets of principles, those of international law on one hand and of human rights on another. [1] Barsa, 6.
Professor:
Date: Spring 2009
Words: 4,000