Iraq’s Constitutional Process Plunges Ahead

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Other

Iraq’s Constitutional Process Plunges Ahead

Iraq's leaders have affirmed their plan to move forward with the Iraqi constitutional process to produce a draft by the August 15th deadline. But 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.

By Nathan J. Brown

Published on Jul 18, 2005

Source: Carnegie Endowment

Both Iraq’s and America’s leaders have stressed their determination that Iraq meet the August 15^th 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.

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.

Click on the link above for the full text of this Carnegie publication

About the Author
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. He is also the author of Carnegie Paper No. 59, Evaluating Political Reform and the Carnegie Policy Outlook, Egypt’s Judges Step Forward: The Judicial Election Boycott and Egyptian Reform.

About the Author

Nathan J. Brown

Nonresident Senior Fellow, Middle East Program

Nathan J. Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, is a distinguished scholar and author of nine books on Arab politics and governance, as well as editor of five books.

Recent Work

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Political Reform Democracy Security Military Foreign Policy North America United States Middle East Iraq

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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