Corropution & Governance Issues

The defining feature of the protests in Baghdad which started on October 1 and spread to other cities in southern Iraq is that they were neither led nor called for by a religious authority (also known as the marja’iya) or another leader. When the first wave of protests began in multiple cities, the protesters’ message was clear: they did not accept any religious or political le

Protests in Iraq are not new. At several times during the past few years, the Iraqi people have taken to the streets against corruption, unemployment, and poor public services. Every time, the government promises reforms, and as soon as the protests end, these promises are forgotten. On October 1, thousands of Iraqi people began protesting and demanding better living conditions

The news on November 29 that Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi will resign is unprecedented in post-2003 Iraq. Many questions must be answered before his successor is appointed, and in the meantime, we can expect unrest to continue. The immediate concern will be constitutional. The Iraqi constitution addresses the replacement of a prime minister following his removal from

In the wake of large-scale popular demonstrations in Iraq, demands for the resignation of its prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, have increased. Among the most vocal voices demanding his resignation has been the unpredictable cleric Muqtada al Sadr. Sadr, who has tried to model himself as the defender of Iraqi nationalism and the champion of a clean government, even claimed that

The recent wave of protests in Iraq has been geographically concentrated in Shia regions, not yet spreading in any substantial way to Sunni or Kurdish provinces. But this is not a Shia revolt, and any attempt to impose a sectarian framing on it fails to understand the underlying drivers. Shia symbols have not occupied a central place in the demonstrators’ slogans, and Shia c