FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 8, 2005
CONTACT: Jennifer Linker , 202/939- 2372, jlinker@CarnegieEndowment.org
Iraq’s new draft constitution, originally due on August 15, is finally scheduled to go to the printing presses so that it can be distributed throughout the country. The final text addresses some of the difficult issues—such as federalism, women's rights, religion, and the country's identity—while sidestepping or even complicating many others. The country's voters will head to the polls on October 15 to decide whether to accept or reject the controversial document.
Carnegie Endowment Senior Associate Nathan J. Brown, an authority on Arab constitutions, has been closely following the drafting process and offers a detailed, article-by-article commentary on the proposed constitution. Brown explores how the document would change Iraqi politics and what loopholes and gaps still remain. He identifies the many questions the constitution simply postpones, how it is likely to lead to a fairly loose confederation rather than a tighter federal structure, and how its rights provisions are far less revolutionary than has been claimed. Read his commentary here.
This new commentary by Nathan Brown is one in a series of special writings on Iraq’s constitution that he has prepared in the last several months. The full set of writings, which provides incisive, non-partisan and comprehensive insight into Iraq’s constitutional process is available www.carnegieendowment.org/democracy.
Nathan Brown can be reached at 202/939-2277 or at nabrown@carnegieendowment.org.
The Middle East Political Reform Initiative of the Carnegie Endowment’s Democracy and Rule of Law Project offers analysis and practical experience on whether and how political reform could occur in the Arab world and what the United States and other external actors can do to encourage such change. For more information about the project, its publications, and scholars, visit www.CarnegieEndowment.org/democracy.
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CONTACT: Jennifer Linker , 202/939- 2372, jlinker@CarnegieEndowment.org
Iraq’s new draft constitution, originally due on August 15, is finally scheduled to go to the printing presses so that it can be distributed throughout the country. The final text addresses some of the difficult issues—such as federalism, women's rights, religion, and the country's identity—while sidestepping or even complicating many others. The country's voters will head to the polls on October 15 to decide whether to accept or reject the controversial document.
Carnegie Endowment Senior Associate Nathan J. Brown, an authority on Arab constitutions, has been closely following the drafting process and offers a detailed, article-by-article commentary on the proposed constitution. Brown explores how the document would change Iraqi politics and what loopholes and gaps still remain. He identifies the many questions the constitution simply postpones, how it is likely to lead to a fairly loose confederation rather than a tighter federal structure, and how its rights provisions are far less revolutionary than has been claimed. Read his commentary here.
This new commentary by Nathan Brown is one in a series of special writings on Iraq’s constitution that he has prepared in the last several months. The full set of writings, which provides incisive, non-partisan and comprehensive insight into Iraq’s constitutional process is available www.carnegieendowment.org/democracy.
Nathan Brown can be reached at 202/939-2277 or at nabrown@carnegieendowment.org.
The Middle East Political Reform Initiative of the Carnegie Endowment’s Democracy and Rule of Law Project offers analysis and practical experience on whether and how political reform could occur in the Arab world and what the United States and other external actors can do to encourage such change. For more information about the project, its publications, and scholars, visit www.CarnegieEndowment.org/democracy.
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