The electoral system of provincial councils is based on proportional system, which enables many parties to win seats in proportion to their vote share, leading to politically unstable councils. Furthermore, each province is one electoral district, which weakens the dimension of accountability. These two aspects inhibit the ability of...
Iraq began importing gas from Iran in late June 2017 from the oil refinery at Shahr. Iraq has so far - as the most recent buyer of Iranian gas – imported 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas through Iran’s pipeline to Baghdad; thus, Iraq is the second largest buyer...
The electoral system in Iraq has become a controversial issue that has driven demonstrators to call for major reforms to the electoral commission and the electoral law. Last month, parliament approved the new commissioners of the Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) but the current debates center on whether to...
The Middle East region has faced monumental challenges in recent times. It all started with the political upheavals in Iraq in 2003, affecting as it did the various economic, political and security spheres, and which some observers believe gradually spread into neighbouring countries of the region; leaving in their...
Hussein Darwish al-Adly, a Researcher and Academic.
“Iraq is the epicentre of three nations (the Arab, Iranian and Turkish). Its cohesion implies the unity of the three Middle East nations, while its disintegration certainly means the redrawing of the entire region’s geopolitics. Iraq’s division is forbidden and surviving as a...
The terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001 and the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have exposed the West to notions of extremism never seen before. Whereas many of the conflicts during the Cold War and its immediate aftermath were characterised by political ideologies or ethnic...
By Ahmad Alja’fari, Researcher and Academic, Educational Administration and Policy - University of Buffalo - America
When analysing the vocational paths of higher education in South Korea, America, Germany, Singapore, Japan, Britain, and Australia, it soon becomes clear that these countries were receptive to a philosophy that provided them with...
The Iraqi government has begun to privatize the electricity sector amid much skepticism. The issue of privatization has quickly become controversial one among political factions, especially after the vocal opposition of five southern provinces, namely Dhi Qar, Muthanna, Wasit, Diwaniyah, and Najaf. Privatization is driven by well-established reasons, such...
Iraq marked an important milestone last week after it wrapped up its first independent bond sale worth US$1 billion. Iraqi government officials and advisors completed a weeklong roadshow that included stops in London, Boston and New York. Citi, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and the Trade Bank of Iraq were the...
The war on corruption has been fought on many fronts, internationally and domestically, with differing degrees of success. The existing commentary on corruption in Iraq is extensive but some studies have focused on post-2003 Iraq without accounting for the roots of corruption that extend back to the Ba’athist regime....
