Iraq has struggled with the concept of federalism ever since it was enshrined in the 2005 Constitution. It is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss how the authors of the Constitution envisioned a federal Iraq, or to...
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent the economic back-bone of developed countries because these entities invest their human resources in a variety of economic activities. This investment leads to the building of strong economies without the necessity for citizens...
Transparency International’s much-awaited annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) was released last month. This year, New Zealand emerged on top with an overall score of 89/100 while Somalia was ranked as the country with the highest levels of perceived corruption...
Iraq’s parliament finally approved the 2018 federal budget last week after amendments were made by the parliamentary finance committee to the original bill submitted by the government. Key takeaways from this budget include cuts to security and defence spending;...
Introduction
The Iranian economy is one of the most diversified economies in the Middle East. Iran is one of the few countries in the region with a truly diversified export base, exporting all categories of product, as classified by the...
Iraqi Airways is often criticised for neglect and mismanagement, and for the continued decline in its performance and services. It has become synonymous with failure to meet deadlines and constant delays and the cancellation of flights without warning, all...
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...
Introduction
Omani-Iranian relations have always followed a path of positive neutrality on many sensitive issues in the Gulf region. The Muscat-Tehran alliance should be understood within the context of Oman's independent approach to foreign policy matters, led by Sultan Qaboos...
By Zuhair Jum’a Al-Maliki
When the Chinese Admiral Zheng He launched his expeditionary fleet of 62 ships in the fifteenth century AD, he could not have imagined that the seven trips he undertook would provide the inspiration for a new...
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...
