This 2019 Article IV Consultation and Proposal for Post-Program Monitoring highlights that Iraq’s social conditions remain harsh following the war with ISIS, with slow progress at reconstruction, weak public services and a lack of job opportunities. In the absence of policy changes, a widening budget deficit is expected to divert resources away from essential investment to rebuild the country and improve public services, while eroding reserves and posing risks to medium-term sustainability. Expenditure rigidities and limited fiscal buffers imply a significant vulnerability to oil price shocks in a context of volatile prices. The fiscal and external positions are expected to continue to deteriorate over the medium term absent policy changes—with reserves falling below adequate levels and fiscal buffers eroded. In a context of highly volatile oil prices, the major risk to the outlook is a fall in oil prices which would lower exports and budgetary revenues, leading to an even sharper decline in reserves or higher public debt. Geopolitical tensions, the potential for social unrest in a context of weak public services and lack of progress in combatting corruption pose further risks.

U.S. Army LTC Darron Wright and former U.S. Coast Guard officer Mike Walling join forces to detail a complete, unique history of the Iraq War through first-hand, street-level accounts of the key events and battles that shaped the conflict. From 2003 through 2010, more than 200,000 men and women were deployed in Iraq. For seven years, they fought ferociously in the blistering sands in the Land Between the Two Rivers. Some fought for pride or survival, some to bring democracy to a forsaken land that has known only tyranny and strife. Scores of books have been published about the war, most criticizing the strategies and execution. Some have been personal memoirs capturing the heroism and sacrifice. Here U.S. Army LTC Darron Wright, a proven combat leader, joins forces with author Mike Walling to lift the veil on the Iraq War, revealing the build-up of troops; the equipping, training, and planning; the capture of Saddam Hussein; the formation of the new Government; and the last patrol. Through vivid stories and military documents, this provides readers with a first-hand of the full conflict.

First Published in 1982, Iraq: The Contemporary State presents insights into the political, social, and economic developments in Iraq. The author argues that Iraq, is a country which the outside world will need increasingly to understand for the stability of the wider Gulf region. Unlike most Arab oil-producing states, moreover, Iraq has substantial agricultural and hydrocarbon resources. This book covers themes like class determination and state formation in Iraq; developments in the Kurdish Issue; emancipation of Iraqi women; eradication of illiteracy; economic relations between Iraq and other Arab Gulf states; Iraqi oil policy between 1961-1976; and western, Soviet and Egyptian influences on Iraq’s development planning. This book is an essential read for scholars and researchers of international relations, West Asian studies, Middle East studies, and international politics.

The invasion and occupation of Iraq rank among the most controversial and complex issues in international law in recent history. This volume of documents covers the occupation of Iraq from the planning stages of the invasion of Iraq in early 2002 to the transfer of governing authority to the Iraqi Interim Government on 28 June 2004. The book presents 595 selected documents including the first complete set of all Regulations, Orders, Memoranda and Public Notices issued by the US-led occupation administration of Iraq, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), several of which were never published on the CPA`s website or promulgated in Alwaqai Aliraqiya, the Official Gazette of Iraq. Some of these legal acts have shaped the economic and political system of present day Iraq and will be part of the country`s legal order for years to come. The book also includes some 120 other CPA and CPA-related documents selected from more than 5000 unclassified CPA documents and received under freedom of information requests lodged in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Switzerland. These documents include instructions and proclamations to the Iraqi people in the early stages of the occupation, organizational charts, internal legal opinions, diplomatic notes, international agreements concluded by the CPA with other States, and numerous internal memoranda for the head of the CPA, Ambassador Paul L Bremer, on legal, diplomatic and political issues. The book also presents for the first time all 235 resolutions passed by the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) between July 2003 and June 2004. The resolutions as well as many of the 25 other important IGC documents (including various political statements, press releases and decrees of the Council`s Higher National De-Ba`athification Commission) have been translated from Arabic and are presented here for the first time in English. These documents are complemented by the relevant United Nations documents on the occupation of Iraq as well as some 50 policy documents of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Iraqi opposition movement as well as all relevant fatwas (religious rulings) of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani which shaped the internal Iraqi political process during the occupation. This collection archives these important documents for future use and makes them easily accessible to researchers and professionals. Considering that the main source of information for the occupying powers in Iraq were the precedents set during the First and Second World Wars, the occupation of Iraq will serve as a modern precedent for future administrations of occupied territory. The documents are made easily accessible by a comprehensive table of documents, a list of abbreviations, more than 1100 explanatory notes and cross-references and a substantive subject index. This volume is the second on The Occupation of Iraq. It is complemented by a monograph by the same author which, on the basis of the documents collection, presents a comprehensive analysis of The Governance of Occupied Territory in Contemporary International Law.

In 1915, women from over thirty countries met in The Hague to express opposition to the war and propose ways to end it. The delegates called for three things: for women to be present at all international peace conferences, a women's-only peace conference to be convened alongside any official negotiations, and the establishment of universal suffrage. While these demands went unmet at the time, contemporary women's groups continue to seek to participate in peace negotiations and to have language promoting gender equality inserted into all peace agreements. In fact, between 1989 and 2005, almost half of all peace processes led to agreements with references to women. Many of these clauses addressed compensation for wartime gender-based violence and guarantees for women's participation in the post-conflict transitional period. Others included electoral quotas and changes to inheritance legislation. Curiously, the language used is fairly consistent across agreements, and that is because it reflects international women's rights norms rather than more local norms. But why is it that, if a peace agreement's primary objective is to end conflict, some include potentially controversial provisions about gender that might delay or complicate reaching an agreement? Why do these provisions echo international norms when we might expect each agreement to reflect varying cultural norms? And which factors make it more likely that women's rights will appear in peace agreements? Windows of Opportunity answers these questions by looking at peace negotiations in Burundi, Macedonia, and Northern Ireland. It looks at the key actors in negotiations, what prompts their mobilization, their objectives, their strategies, how they construct clauses for inclusion in peace agreements, how women's roles in the state are impacted in the wake of peace agreements, and how these variables increase the likelihood of success for women's movements.

The 1990-1991 crisis in the Middle East and the disturbances that followed, threw the deep-seated divisions within the Iraqi population into focus. This book examines the complexities of the internal cultural, political and religious conflict within the modern state of Iraq.

In the West, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 and later Saddam Husain's political survival following a punishing defeat in war have been greeted with bewilderment and incomprehension. The history of politics in Iraq and the context which has given rise to Saddam Husayn's violent Ba'thist regime have been barely understood. This highly praised book is the first to explore the emergence of modern Iraq from its foundation in 1920 into the 21st century. It covers the period from the revolution in 1958, concentrating particularly on Saddam Husayn's rise to power and his consolidation as leader. It is the only political history of modern Iraq now available to provide a critical analysis of the Ba'thist regime which has ruled since 1968. The authors also explore the role and decline of the Iraqi Communist Party, the shifting policies towards the Kurds and the Shi'is, the nationalisation of oil and Iraq's relations with its neighbours. With the extensive revision and updatings of Peter Sluglett, they provide a stimulating analysis of the country's economy, now so drastically affected by international sanctions. --------------------- Real Promo blurb As the world holds its breath while the US-Iraq confrontation approaches its denouement, here is the definitive story of Saddam Husayn, his rise to power and the historical background to his dictatorship. This highly praised book explores the emergence of modern Iraq from the revolution in 1958 and concentrating on Saddam Husayn's rise to power and his consolidation as leader. The only political history of modern Iraq now available, it provides a critical analysis of the Ba'thist regime which has ruled since 1968. It explores the decline of the Iraqi Communist Party, the shifting policies towards the Kurds and the Shi'is, and Iraq's relations with its neighbours. Extensively updated by Peter Sluglett, it provides analysis of the country's economy, now so damaged by international sanctions. `This is an excellent, reasoned, historical analysis of Iraq, lucidly written, theoretically astute, empirically based, politically firm.' Fred Halliday `A very good book indeed' Albert Hourani --------------------------------- Author aff. The late Marion Farouk-Sluglett lectured in Middle Eastern Politics at the University College of Wales. Peter Sluglett is Professor of History at the University of Utah.

The Failure of Democracy in Iraq studies democratization in post-2003 Iraq, which has so far failed, due mainly to cultural and religious reasons. There are other factors, such as the legacy of the dictatorial regime, exclusionary policies, the problem of stateness, interference by regional powers, the rentier economy and sectarianism, that have impeded democracy and contributed to its failure, but the employment of religion in politics was the most to blame. The establishment of stable democratic institutions continues to elude Iraq, 15 years after toppling the dictatorship. The post-2003 Iraq could not completely eradicate the long historical tradition of despotic governance due to deep-seated religious beliefs and tribal values, along with widening societal ethno-sectarian rifts which precluded the negotiation of firm and stable elite settlements and pacts across communal lines. The book examines how the fear in neighbouring countries of a region-wide domino effect of the Iraq democratization process caused them to adopt interventionist policies towards Iraq that helped to stunt the development of democracy. The lack of commitment by the initiator of the democratic process, the United States, undermined the prospects of democratic consolidation. This is compounded by serious mistakes such as de-Ba’athification and the disbanding of the Iraqi army and security apparatuses which caused a security vacuum the US forces were not able to fill. The Failure of Democracy in Iraq is a key resource for all students and academics interested in democracy, Islam and Middle East Studies.

This invaluable resource offers a comprehensive overview of the Iraq War, with more than 100 in-depth articles by leading scholars on an array of topics and themes and more than a dozen key primary source documents. This book provides everything the reader needs to know about the Iraq War, from the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq, through the U.S. troop surge in 2007, to the rise of the Islamic State. It offers insight into the war through the events, organizations, and people who have had a major impact on the conflict. It also explains the inadvertent consequences of the conflict including worsening regional sectarian divisions, the Arab Spring, the increase in Iranian influence in the Middle East, and the expansion of international terrorism. The book begins with a sweeping overview of the Iraq War that provides context for each of the reference entries that follow. The introductory material also includes detailed essays on the causes and consequences of the war. The bulk of the book consists of more than 120 reference entries on such topics as Saddam Hussein, the battles of Fallujah, and private military contractors such as Blackwater and Halliburton. In addition, the book includes more than a dozen curated and contextualized primary source documents along with a comprehensive chronology and extensive bibliography.