Authors Posts by Hashim Al-Rikabi
Hashim Al-Rikabi
Localizing Politics is the Way Forward in Iraq
The Iraqi Constitution provides a broad mandate for local governments to exercise a range of powers, except those that are exclusive to the federal government, as well as prioritizing local government legislation over national ones. However, their performance is lacking and they have not...
Voter Turnout
Despite some individual calls for boycotting the upcoming election on May 12, 2018, there are several institutional, political, and socio-economic factors that will motivate Iraqi voters to participate at an acceptable level. Election turnout has been taking a decreasing trend in Iraq, as appears...
Electoral competition in Iraq: Addressing the pros and cons
Each electoral cycle, thousands of people in Iraq, including those with little chance of winning, announce their candidacy to run in the elections. 9043 candidates competed for 328 seats in the previous parliamentary election of 2014, which represents about 27 times the number of...
Addressing Performance of Provincial Councils Through Electoral Reform
The electoral system of provincial councils is based on proportional system, which enables many parties to win seats in proportion to their vote share, leading to politically unstable councils. Furthermore, each province is one electoral district, which weakens the dimension of accountability. These two...
Reforming the Electoral System in Iraq: A Detailed Assessment
The electoral system in Iraq has become a controversial issue that has driven demonstrators to call for major reforms to the electoral commission and the electoral law. Last month, parliament approved the new commissioners of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) but the current...
An Assessment of Electricity Sector Reforms in Iraq
The Iraqi government has begun to privatize the electricity sector amid much skepticism. The issue of privatization has quickly become controversial one among political factions, especially after the vocal opposition of five southern provinces, namely Dhi Qar, Muthanna, Wasit, Diwaniyah, and Najaf. Privatization is...
Towards A Framework for Tackling Corruption in Iraq
The war on corruption has been fought on many fronts, internationally and domestically, with differing degrees of success. The existing commentary on corruption in Iraq is extensive but some studies have focused on post-2003 Iraq without accounting for the roots of corruption that extend...
