Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Iraqi Islamic Party has demonstrated resilience over the last fifteen years, but unless it can increase its popularity, it is unlikely to regain a meaningful role in governing Iraq.
‘Adel ‘Abdul-Mahdi was a compromise candidate as prime minister, that’s his major problem.
Although Iraq’s political blocs have agreed on a new prime minister, the lack of a coherent coalition shows the incoming government’s inherent weakness.
Efforts to reconstitute and rebuild state security institutions in post-conflict states will require not just technical and organizational fixes, but will hinge upon a range of sweeping steps and reforms with generational scope.
Today Iraq looks like a plurality of competing but fluid centers of power linked to domestic and/or external patrons.
Defense sectors in several Arab countries have undergone significant transformation leading to the hybridization of security governance, leaving them with forms of sovereignty that are both constrained and constantly contested.
The hybridization of security governance in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen leaves them with forms of sovereignty that are both constrained and constantly contested.
Protests in the governorate are stepping away from sectarianism toward a new form of political mobilization.
Given the growing public anger in Iraq, the only path forward is to make the state more efficient and accountable.
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