'Secondly, the EU and member states should encourage dialogue across the political spectrum and civil society in order to create momentum for a long overdue constitutional review that could prompt better implementation as well as needed amendments. Holding credible provincial elections is a necessary but insufficient condition for addressing the underlying problems spotlighted by the Tishreeni protests. Governance reform is unlikely to be effective unless the muhasasa system is revamped, which could be most enduringly done by amending the constitution, and paramilitaries are fully brought under the control of the relevant security ministries. Key provisions of the constitution adopted in 2005 remain unfulfilled, some awaiting the requisite legislation.''..Yet the gap between citizens and elites has only widened since 2019, as rampant corruption continues to prevent the state from providing adequate public services .. None of Iraq’s political, social and economic challenges are insurmountable, but the Sudani government will have to change tack if it wants to secure a better future for the country. Governance by patronage has its limits, namely when it fails to produce a liveable society for the many who lack access to the parties’ distributive system. Lessening the treasury’s overreliance on oil revenues should be a top priority, but it is notoriously difficult to do: when oil prices are high, it is easy to forget that they may fall again, and when they are low, the government is in crisis mode and lacks flexibility to institute necessary reforms. Yet the alternative is worse: endemic social strife that peaks in violent outbursts, as Iraq has seen repeatedly over the past few years.
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..the EU should engage in frank dialogue with the Sudani government on how to reform Iraq’s financial and governance system in a way that would meet global standards and strengthen Iraq’s independence, irrespective of the government’s policy orientation vis-à-vis either Iran or the U.S. The EU is already supporting security sector reform, public financial management oversight through the World Bank, and Iraqi accession to the World Trade Organization. It could offer similar assistance in further areas, including by encouraging international financial institutions to invest in Iraq, on the condition that the government meets agreed-upon reform metrics.
The EU should not shy away from discussing reform of the Hashd institution, both when offering support for security sector reform in the context of the EU Advisory Mission in Iraq (EUAM Iraq) and in high-level political engagements, such as the forthcoming EU-Iraq ministerial meeting and a planned high-level visit by Iraq’s prime minister to Brussels .. everal Hashd groups are looking to improve their international standing and back a government that also is seeking broad international acceptance – the time to tackle this difficult question may have arrived.
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As Brussels works to expand its ties with Baghdad, the EU and member states should encourage the Iraqi government to adopt other policies that can help stave off a new political crisis.
First, they should urge the government to organise provincial elections as a way to promote political participation and improve local governance and accountability..
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Secondly, the EU and member states should encourage dialogue across the political spectrum and civil society in order to create momentum for a long overdue constitutional review that could prompt better implementation as well as needed amendments. Holding credible provincial elections is a necessary but insufficient condition for addressing the underlying problems spotlighted by the Tishreeni protests. Governance reform is unlikely to be effective unless the muhasasa system is revamped, which could be most enduringly done by amending the constitution, and paramilitaries are fully brought under the control of the relevant security ministries. Key provisions of the constitution adopted in 2005 remain unfulfilled, some awaiting the requisite legislation.
Thirdly, with respect to the frictions in Kurdistan, the EU should use its newly established permanent mission in Erbil to offer itself as a mediator between the Kurdish parties, working closely with its U.S. and UK counterparts. The rift between the parties is complicating negotiations over oil revenue sharing with Baghdad and making the north more vulnerable to military intervention by Iran, which is targeting Iranian Kurdish exile groups, and Türkiye, which is in a long fight with the PKK.
Finally, the EU and its member states could support Iraq in coping with water scarcity. They could give both material aid and technical advice in the agricultural sector, where outdated irrigation techniques are causing extreme water loss. Such aid would strengthen Iraq’s claims vis-à-vis especially Türkiye, which has said it will not release more water from its dams as long as Iraq does not fix its water waste problem..'
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Iraq: Staving Off Instability in the Near and Distant Futures, January 31, 2023
'Instead, the constitutional revision committee that was established focused most of its attention on debating the structure and system of government and paid very little attention to individual rights and the state of public services.
Any meaningful constitutional effort that is undertaken in 2023 must address popular grievances. One of the main problems Iraq has been experiencing throughout its modern history is that the constitution theoretically provides for civil and political rights, but does not clearly indicate what constitutes a legitimate limitation of those rights and what does not.
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..to move towards a more successful form of parliamentary democracy.''
Iraqi citizens and their grievances need to be taken into account in this new attempt to change the Iraqi constitution...
If this latest initiative is to be successful, lessons should be learned from the previous failed attempts to amend the constitution, but also from positive examples of constitutional reform in other countries.
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In this, the Iraqi government can follow the example of South Africa. When it launched a constitutional process following the end of apartheid, the South African government invited the general population to express their priorities in writing. Some 1.7 million submissions were received, which the drafters took into account.
South Africans were motivated to participate because the relevant authorities led a successful campaign to generate interest in the process and because there was a general feeling that the constitution could bring real change to the country.
In 2005, during Iraq’s own constitutional process, a public outreach body was established but it came to be dominated by one political party – the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (then known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq) – which sought to skew the results in its favour. As a result, no one took the initiative seriously.
If such a process is launched today, it must cast the net widely and remain independent from the main political groups in order to preserve its credibility.
Inclusivity cannot just be limited to reaching out to as many people as possible at a horizontal level. It is also about giving the process more depth, by providing specialist groups with decision-making authority on how the constitution can and should be shaped.
The example of Kenya’s 2010 constitution is instructive here. During the drafting phase, a committee of experts was given virtually equal decision-making power as the parliamentary committee. The end result was a constitution that allowed Kenya to make significant progress in strengthening the rule of law.
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..negotiations should start as a discussion between the different sides on what their interests are. It is only after each side understands the other’s interests that common ground can be explored to reach a possible agreement. How individual provisions are worded can come after that has been achieved.
Reforming the citizen-state relationshipIn 2019, Iraq witnessed the largest popular uprising in the country’s history. The demands of the protesters should have triggered political impetus to reform the relationship between citizen and state, to deepen the protection of socioeconomic rights and to revolutionalise Iraq’s anti-corruption framework.
Instead, the constitutional revision committee that was established focused most of its attention on debating the structure and system of government and paid very little attention to individual rights and the state of public services.
Any meaningful constitutional effort that is undertaken in 2023 must address popular grievances. One of the main problems Iraq has been experiencing throughout its modern history is that the constitution theoretically provides for civil and political rights, but does not clearly indicate what constitutes a legitimate limitation of those rights and what does not.
For example, while freedom of expression is theoretically guaranteed, the constitution does not provide policymakers or the courts with any guidance as to whether or not the right to criticise public officials or accuse them of corruption is protected.
The absence of clear guidance has encouraged policymakers to unreasonably restrict rights and has robbed the courts of the tools that they need to curb executive overreach. In this, Iraq could learn from the experience of other countries, including Tunisia’s 2014 constitution, which explicitly provided that all limitations of rights had to respect the principle of proportionality, a progressive standard that is spreading across modern democracies.
Iraq should also learn from other Global South countries, such as Colombia, which have eliminated the distinction between civil and political rights on the one hand, and socioeconomic rights, on the other. This makes the right to education, healthcare, housing, and other benefits directly enforceable.
If Iraq were to include such provisions in its new constitution, this would allow citizens to bring claims in the courts in the event the government has failed to satisfy its constitutional obligations to them. It would also allow the judiciary to order the government to do so. Such a move would not be a panacea for Iraq’s many socioeconomic problems, but it would be a step in the right direction.
Equally important is the constitution’s oversight framework, which is ill-conceived, poorly worded and full of contradictions. The constitution’s highly imperfect arrangements have made it easier for corruption to spread through the state virtually unchallenged.
Each of the country’s main oversight institutions (the audit institution, the anti-corruption body and the courts) will need robust mandates and far greater guarantees of independence, including greater control over their budgets and the appointment of senior staff.
Federalism and form of governmentConstitutional reform should also address political challenges that the country has faced since 2003, which will also allow the state to focus more of its attention on the population’s pressing needs.
In particular, Iraq’s federal system will remain a source of instability unless a new bargain is struck between the central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government. This issue will require the different political forces in the country to negotiate a common understanding of what federalism is supposed to achieve and build an institutional relationship around that understanding.
Baghdad and Erbil must understand each other’s core interests, develop creative solutions that allow for those core interests to be defended and guaranteed, and offer compromises where appropriate.
Above all, both sides must understand that federalism is not just a means to carve out decision-making authority across territory and political lines. Rather, it is a means through which social solidarity can be protected within the borders of a single country.
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..to move towards a more successful form of parliamentary democracy.
Iraq faces a number of overwhelming challenges and trying to address them through the same methods that have failed in the past will not achieve anything. A new approach is necessary, a more inclusive one, and one that focuses on the interests of the population as a whole, and not just the interests of the political class. If that can be achieved, Iraq will have come a long way towards truly turning the page.'
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Iraq’s constitutional reform process must avoid past mistakes, February 25, 2023
ContextIraq’s Constitutional Moment? September 27, 2022
Following Year of Political Discord, Iraq's New Government Tackles Pressing Challenges, Institutes Reforms, Senior Official Tells Security Council, February 2, 2023
'Even the official US Army history of Iraq concluded that the real winner of the war in Iraq wasn’t America. It was … Iran.''..a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq .. I mean, of Ukraine, Iraq too..' - George W Bush(The U.S. out of the Middle East) - Why Are American Troops Still in Iraq? - '..the case for leaving Iraq is even stronger.'