FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 18, 2005
CONTACT: Cara Santos Pianesi, 202/939-2211, csantos@CarnegieEndowment.org  

Both Iraq’s and America’s leaders have stressed their determination that Iraq meet the August 15th deadline for a draft constitution. Yet, the original political logic underlying the deadline has lost much of its relevance, argues Carnegie Arab constitutional expert Nathan Brown, and Iraq should consider using the six-month allowance for an extension to ensure the constitution is a viable, unifying document. Brown cautions that rushing to meet the deadline could result in a draft constitution that embodies the varying interests of Iraq’s contending groups but fails to resolve their differences. In his new Policy Outlook, Iraq’s Constitutional Process Plunges Ahead, Brown explains the constitutional process, its pitfalls and potential outcomes. 

The Outlook, available here, will be periodically updated when new details emerge as the deadline approaches.

Drawing on his extensive scholarship of Arab constitutions and his close following of the current process in Iraq, Brown also offers glimpses into where the draft stands now on several critical issues, including the basic structures of government, religion’s role in the state, federalism, rights, gender, and security.

Brown points out that what seems now to be the likely outcome—adoption of a vague constitution—would not be a problem in many other settings. A document that makes conflicting promises may work in a society that has a strong sense of political community and well-established structures for resolution of constitutional disputes. But Iraq is not such a society.

In fact, "The country is so deeply divided that Iraq risks creating a document that simply contains the seeds for future conflict," says Brown.

Nathan Brown is a senior associate in the Carnegie Endowment’s Democracy and Rule of Law Project. He is the author of four well-received books on Arab politics.

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Direct Link to PDF Paper:  http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/PO19Brown.pdf

Direct Link to Author's Bio: http://www.carnegieendowment.org/about/staff/index.cfm?fa=expert_view&expert_id=238&prog=zgp&proj=zdrl

About the Democracy and Rule of Law Program: http://www.carnegieendowment.org/programs/global/index.cfm?fa=proj&id=101&proj=zdrl