Iraq Economic Review: The Business of Education
Feb 8th, 2022One goal of the Iraq Economic Review is to move beyond general commentary about the growth potential of a given...Read more
Expanding Access to Banks in Iraq: Challenges & Pathways to Reform
Sep 1st, 2021One of the major obstacles to the development of the private sector in Iraq is the lack of access to...Read more
Relations Between Citizens and Security Actors in Five Iraqi Provinces
Jul 27th, 2021Based on interviews and focus groups in five provinces (Baghdad, Basrah, Thi Qar, Ninewa, Kirkuk), this study examines the diverse...Read more
The Baghdad-Erbil Budget Divide
May 24th, 2021The annual debate over the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)’s share of the federal budget in return for its contribution in...Read more
Displacement and Iraq's Political Marketplace
Feb 24th, 2021At the peak of the fighting between Iraqi forces and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in 2017,...Read more
The National Budget: Short and Medium-Term Prospects
Feb 14th, 2021There is a growing sense among the Iraqi populace that the economy is irreparably broken. Over the past five years,...Read more
Why Did Protests Erupt in Iraqi Kurdistan?
Dec 22nd, 2020In comparison to previous demonstrations in the KRI, the rhetoric of the December 2020 protests was more absolutist and its...Read more
Iraqi Women in Civil Society
Dec 17th, 2020This report argues that throughout Iraq’s continued attempts to transition to democracy, women’s rights actors have faced significant challenges to...Read more
Protestors and Civil Society Actors in Iraq: Between Reform and Revolution
Dec 8th, 2020This report argues that the protest movement emerged spontaneously and represents a novel kind of social movement in Iraq, pushing...Read more
Decentralized Governance in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Nov 2nd, 2020After the reunification of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in 2005, the region was governed under a power sharing coalition...Read more
Running Out of Options: Why Iraq’s Elite Fails to Address Protest Demands
Oct 22nd, 2020This piece analyses past and present elite responses to protests for insight into how al-Kadhimi can forge a better path...Read more
The Power of Local Ties: Civilian Resistance to Sectarian Displacement in Iraq
Oct 16th, 2020In February 2006, Ahmed Sharif’s (names of individuals have been changed to preserve anonymity) quiet life in the Hayy al-Jamaa...Read more
Assessing Iraqi Kurdistan's Stability: How Patronage Shapes Conflict
Jul 23rd, 2020The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) has generally lacked the security incidents common throughout the country since 2003. Yet, tension...Read more
Iraq’s Political Marketplace at the Subnational Level: The Struggle for Power in Three Provinces
Jun 23rd, 2020Since 2003, analysts have conceptualized Iraqi politics from the standpoint of the national scene in Baghdad. From this perspective, power...Read more
Prisoner of the Deal: Nineveh’s Governor and Local State Capture
Mar 19th, 2020After two years of political turmoil in Nineveh, the appointment of the retired general Najm al-Jabouri as governor created a...Read more
Why Iraq’s Protesters Won’t Go Home: 10 Voices from the Movement
Mar 3rd, 2020Iraqi protesters’ resilience and commitment to their objectives have arguably been unmatched in Iraq’s modern history. To better understand the...Read more
The US Presence in Iraq: Emerging Positions of Iraqi Political Parties
Jan 10th, 2020Amidst the ongoing policy conversation about US-Iran escalations and the consequences for the American presence in the region, scant attention...Read more
The Failure of Reconstruction in Mosul: Root Causes from 2003 to the Post-ISIS Period
Dec 1st, 2019This report addresses the root causes of the failure of reconstruction in Mosul between 2003 and the present. Since the...Read more
Mosul and Basra After the Protests: The Roots of Government Failure and Popular Discontent
Oct 24th, 2019Based on 50 interviews with key figures in Basra and Mosul’s government, private sector, and civil society (conducted by the...Read more
The Kurdish Duopoly: The Political Economy of Two-Party Rule
Oct 24th, 2019The violence and political instability of the post 2003 era has generated a shifting set of alliances and blocs throughout...Read more
Basra's Protest Movement & Unemployment: Contesting Party Dominance of the Oil Sector
Jun 25th, 2019In Basra’s mass protests of 2018, unemployment was central to the rhetoric and mobilization strategies of all the key political...Read more
Basra's Political Marketplace: Understanding Government Failure After the Protests
Apr 29th, 2019To date, the policy discussion on Basra has revolved around whether or not the newly appointed central government under Prime...Read more
Reintegration of Combatants in Iraq after ISIL
Apr 4th, 2019The campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) culminated on 9 December 2017 when Prime Minister...Read more
Analysis: Looking Back on the 2018 Kurdish Elections
Mar 14th, 2019The 2018 electoral process - tainted by voter discontent, historically low turnout and allegations of electoral fraud - is a...Read more
Iraq's Disputed Internal Boundaries After ISIS: Heterogeneous Actors Vying for Influence
Feb 28th, 2019Conflict between Erbil and Baghdad over the disputed internal boundaries (DIBs) has long been a central destabilizing feature of the...Read more
Iraq's 2018 Government Formation: Unpacking the Friction Between Reform and the Status Quo
Feb 26th, 2019This report analyzes the 2018 government formation process in Iraq. It argues that the process is marked by two competing...Read more
Iraq's Investment Spending Deficit: An Analysis of Chronic Failures
Dec 21st, 2018The proposed 2019 budget law brought into sharp focus systemic failures in the crafting of successive Iraqi governments’ economic policy...Read more
Regional Dynamics: What now for the US, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia?
Dec 9th, 2018Since 2 October, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has used the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi to bolster his...Read more
Iraq Synthesis Paper: Understanding the Drivers of Conflict in Iraq
Oct 30th, 2018It has now been over a year since the liberation of Mosul by Iraqi government forces in July 2017. The...Read more
The 2018 Iraqi Federal Elections: A Population in Transition?
Jul 10th, 2018The Institute for Regional and International Studies (IRIS), second report in the three-part election series, "The 2018 Iraqi Federal Elections:...Read more