The New Iraq: The Sistani Factor

Issue Date July 2005
Volume 16
Issue 3
Page Numbers 50-53
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For the Shi'ite majority and its senior religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Sistani, the January elections played out against the background of a longing for justice that has deep spiritual and historical sources as well as more recent sociopolitical roots.

Further Reading

Volume 12, Issue 4

Ten Years After the Soviet Breakup: Russia’s Hybrid Regime

In Russia, formally democratic institutions coexist uneasily with the reality of tightly consolidated bureaucratic and executive power.

Volume 19, Issue 2

Progress and Retreat in Africa: Challenges of a “Frontier” Region

In Africa today, investment flows in and civil societies grow stronger, yet many of the continent's leaders continue to behave autocratically, defending their privileges against the spread of law-based rule.

Volume 12, Issue 1

How People View Democracy: Africans’ Surprising Universalism

Although Africa is a latecomer to democratization, Africans overwhelmingly support democracy, and their conception of democracy is surprisingly liberal.