Government Iraq Is Certainly a Terribly Divided Essay

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Government

Iraq is certainly a terribly divided society and outside political forces like Al Qaeda have certainly been attempting to exploit and exacerbate these religious and ethnic conflicts in order to turn it into a failed state. For practical purposes, the most significant divisions are between the Kurds and the Sunni and Shiite Muslims, with the Shiites having a clear majority of about 70% of the population. During the civil wars of the last eight years, Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites largely separated and segregated themselves, while other minority groups like the Christians have been terrorized by extremists and driven out of the country. Up to the 1950s, Iraq also had a large Jewish community but they were almost all expelled decades ago and are hardly likely to return. This is hardly an ideal situation, to put it mildly, and the chances of Iraq ever becoming a multiethnic, middle-class democracy would seem to be nil. Since the Kurds and Sunnis already have considerable local and regional autonomy in their separate enclaves, then the best solution would simply be to recognize in a formal or legal-constitutional sense that Iraq is really a loose confederation rather than a unified nation state.

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A national government and parliament will continue to exist and control foreign affairs, but the semi-independent regions will be free to establish their own cultural, religious, educational and political institutions.

Iraq has no real democratic traditions, of course, but under any conceivable representative or political party system, either parliamentary or federalist, the Shiites are going to have a majority and control the government. From a realistic viewpoint, they have the numbers and will therefore have most of the levers of power in their hands. This will be always be the case under any constitutional and legal arrangements that provides for legitimate elections, as long the people vote along religious and ethnic lines rather than social class. In the past when the country was a monarchy or military dictatorship, the minority Sunni Arabs controlled the state, economy, military and the….....

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"Government Iraq Is Certainly A Terribly Divided", 08 October 2011, Accessed.16 May. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/government-iraq-certainly-terribly-divided-84596