Iraq’s massive needs for reconstruction, after more than 35 years of conflict, cannot be met by current revenues from its considerable hydrocarbon resources alone, and thus it needs to resort to debt to augment funding this reconstruction.
However, discussions within...
Once viewed as having one of the most robust healthcare systems across the Middle East, the Iraqi healthcare system has experienced a steady decline since the late-1980s as a result of conflicts and the resultant economic troubles that have...
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...
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;...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Hussein Darwish al-Adly, a Researcher and Academic.
“Iraq is the epicentre of three nations (the Arab, Iranian and Turkish). Its cohesion implies the unity of the three Middle East nations, while its disintegration certainly means the redrawing of the entire...
