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).
Across East-Central Europe, the political center ground has long been characterized by the uneasy cohabitation of liberal and illiberal norms, but the latter have been gradually overpowering the former.
Despite some moves toward liberalization in the past three decades, all Arab-majority countries remain authoritarian. Nonetheless, opinion surveys show that popular support for democracy in this part of the world…
