After a series of contentious debates that saw parliamentary blocs withdraw from the chamber over disagreements about revenue sharing, Iraq’s Council of Representatives eventually approved the 2017 federal budget on December 7 in the presence of 189 members.
The 2017 budget reduces government spending by about 5% compared to this...
Oil has often been described as part of the glue that holds Iraq together. And yet, few issues have proven more divisive to the fabric of the state since 2003 than those related to the management of the natural resource base and the distribution of the revenue accrued from...
On September 28, the U.S. Congress voted unanimously to override a decision by President Obama to veto a bill known as the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA for short. The decision marked the first time since Obama took office that Congress had successfully garnered the two-thirds...
As of the summer of 2016, Iraq is gradually winning its war against the Islamic State (IS). Major urban centres such as Ramadi and Fallujah have been liberated and the Iraqi security forces are slowly encircling Mosul, IS’ regional capital and the last major urban centre still in their...
As part of its policy to provide electricity to consumers, the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity has developed a plan to build gas stations for the production of electrical energy distributed over the provinces of Iraq, using different types of fuel to produce electricity: natural gas, gas oil, fuel oil...
Since 2014, Iraq has been the scene of horrific atrocities committed by the Islamic State (IS, then called ISIL – Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) against ethnic and religious communities that it considered anathema to its own hard-line interpretation of Islam.
Although the group was initially not considered...
On November 8th, US Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will hope more than a year on the campaign trail – full of speeches, fundraisers, and presidential debates – will be enough to secure the top political seat in the country. Much has been made of their respective...
Approximately 68% of the Tigris River basin revenues and 97% of the Euphrates River revenues flow in from outside Iraq (Turkey, Syria and Iran). As a result of the evolution use of water in those countries (by irrigation and storage projects), with the absence of mutual agreements that determine...
In order to adjust with changes that occur at the local, regional and global level, there is a need for fundamental changes in management within government institutions and studying means to offer these in benefit toward services and goods. This requires the adoption of a modern concept of administrative...
Cycles of oppressive government, poverty, nationalism, extremism, economic and political instability and ethno-sectarian violence in a geographic area of vague definition. These characteristics are only some of the terms commonly used to describe the Middle East and North Africa region today. However, a mere hundred years ago, these same...
