The "New Iraq" Ten Years Later | ISPI

October 2013

The "New Iraq" Ten Years Later

Ten years after the fall of Saddam's regime, Iraq is still entangled in a difficult reconstruction process which presents bright opportunities but also a series of daunting challenges threatening the very future of the country. In the past decade the "new Iraq" underwent one of the bloodiest civil wars of the new century while laying the foundations for creation of a democratic system that staged 6 elections in 8 years. Despite a persistent lack of basic services, the country witnessed an oil-led economic growth which is poised to transform it into one of the fastest-developing economies in the world. Baghdad also succeeded in regaining its formal independence with the completion of US troop withdrawal in December 2011, its removal from Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, the restoration of formal ties with its neighbours and the significant (albeit not complete) curtailing of their meddling in Iraqi affairs.	Unfortunately, despite these important results, the recent history of the "land of the two rivers" has underlined the existence of multiple threats that could derail the reconstruction process begun in 2003. While the current levels of violence cannot be compared with those seen during the peaks of the conflict, the recent wave of attacks registered in July made it the bloodiest month in the country since 2008. At the same time, the economy continues to be dominated by	state-owned companies and by the oil sector, with private Iraqi enterprises unable to compete with foreign firms even in the agricultural sector. And, finally, there are problems with Iraqi political institutions, whose effectiveness has been severely paralysed by the continuous infighting of its main socio-political actors as well as by the effects of the regional Saudi-Iranian-Turkish competition.

Index

Andrea Plebani	Iraq Towards 2014 Elections: A Socio-Political Perspective Ten years after the fall of Saddam's regime, Iraq is still entangled in a difficult reconstruction process which... More »

Ibrahim Al-Marashi	Iraq's Security Outlook for 2013 In 2011 the Maliki government precipitated a domestic crisis in Iraq after lodging accusations against Vice President Tariq Al-Hashimi... More »

Kamal Field Al-Basri & Mudhar Al-Sebahi	The Political Economy of Iraq: Will Oil Burn Out Democracy? Despite the existence of several hurdles and challenges, Iraq has made significant progress... More »
Paolo Maggiolini	Iraq's Foreign Policy Directions and Regional Developments Since the second half of the 20th century, Iraq has stood out as one of the most strategic and prominent regional actors... More »

Harith Hasan Al-Qarawee	Sectarian Relations and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was an event of great historical significance, whatever the interpretation given to it... More »

Multimedia


Andrea Plebani ISPI Research Fellow, presents the study.

Research Team
Andrea Plebani (Head of Research), Kamal Field Al-Basri, Paolo Maggiolini, Ibrahim Al-Marashi, Harith Hasan Al-Qarawee e Mudhar Al-Sebahi


				ISSN N° 2281-3152

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