If Iraq is successfully to democratize and an inclusive democratic culture is to emerge, the Iraqi state must be reconstituted as a federal and strongly liberal system and thoroughly demilitarized.
About the Author
Kanan Makiyais senior fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University, where he is emeritus professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. His books include Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq (1989) and Fi Al-Qaswa [On Cruelty] (in Arabic, 2021).
Although many Iraqi parties continue to be organized along religious or ethnic lines, both the tone and the results of the 2010 parliamentary election campaign show that most Iraqi voters…
