Filling Out Iraq’s Federation: A Bottom-Up Approach to Challenging the Muhasasa

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Article

Publication Date

2024

Identifier/URL

40920987 (Pure)

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Abstract

The consensus among many western scholars and the Iraqi protest movement is that almost all of the country’s most serious problems are attributable to a political system ('muhasasa ta’ifia') that allocates positions of political power on the basis of ethnicity and sect. The system was created by elites, and is sustained and manipulated by these same elites for personal gain; but while critiques of the system are ubiquitous, feasible proposals for changing it are thin on the ground. The assumption that the 'muhasasa' is a top-down imposition logically leads protestors to focus attention on effecting change in Baghdad, but direct challenges to the system are unlikely to succeed. The argument here is that a bottom-up approach that starts with empowering governorates is the more viable strategy.

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Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Editor of Ethnopolitics.

DOI

10.1080/17449057.2022.2124669

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