Bulletin de liaison etd'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro
de la Prensa-Basm ()zeti
The discussion
at the end of the morning session was chaired by Roger Hardy of the BBC.
Session Two: Chair Dr Laith Kubba National Endowment for Democracy USA Iraqi Kurdistan as a Model
Democracy Building in Iraq; Democratic Iraq and the Democratization
of the Region
In his introduction to the presentations in the afternoon session, Dr Laith Kubba pointed out that if Iraqis change
their mind set, manage to control the fear through which the regime has imprisoned them, overcome the apathy
which has paralysed them and stop seeing themselves as victims, they will shake the foundation of totalitarianism
and Saddam Hussein will be brought down.
The first speaker Carole O'Leary Adjunct professor, School of International Service, American University presented
a research paper on Demoçracy and the Politics of Identity in Iraq. The paper was divided into six sections: an
examination of the form and substance of democracy; democratization in Iraqi Kurdistan; an overview of how
social scientists, particularly anthropologists, have approached the issue of collective identity in the Middle East;
a discussion of the nation state as a construct and as a framework for socio-political organization in the Middle
East; an analysis of the ideology of Arab nationalism and the construction of Iraqi identity; and, some observations
on the idea of federalism as an appropriate model for Iraq, including the issue of Arab state support for such a
model.
In her discussion of democratisation in Kurdistan, O'Leary pointed out that the emergence of democratic institutions
and civil society in Iraqi Kurdistan has been a welcome, though largely unintended, consequence of the establishment
of the Kurdish safe haven in 1991. Democracy and civil society building have taken root from within the
society; they have not been imposed from without. She noted that the people she interviewed while in the region
suggest that good governance is emerging due not to outside pressure but to the evolving sense of accountability
within the KDP and PUK leadership. 'In this regard, I am struck by the dearth of public discussion concerning
these developments among scholars, policy makers and the media in the US. The municipal elections held in the
region in February 2000 and again in May 2001, the efforts of the two main parties (the KOP and PUK) to peacefully
resolve their differences and collaborate on issues of critical importance to the region as a whole, the growth
of local NGOs, the promotion of human rights, including women's rights, the reform of the educational system,
and the increasing transparency and efficiency of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Erbil and Sulaymania,
among other developments, have yet to be seriously analyzed', O'Leary said.
An independent researcher whose presentation focused on economic development said that if we are to use social
science literature as a guide to possible democratic forces within Iraq then it is to the economy that we should look
for the growth of collective groupings with independent power who could act as a restraint on state power.
In Baghdad controlled south and central Iraq the imposition of sanctions has forced the government to withdraw
from large parts of the economy. The groups that have grown up to take the governments place are clearly larger,
more social diverse and more independent than their processors in the 1980s. They have some of the hallmarks of
a nascent bourgeoisie. They are clearly tied to the regime, but not of it. First and foremost this bourgeoisie serves
the demands of the domestic market. Until1990 this market was largely shaped and controlled by the Iraqi regime.
After 1990 the regime has come to realise that social quiescence is dependent on the free flow of goods over
Iraq's borders into the economy. In the medium term this is dependent on cordial relations with Iraq's neighbours
but also a vibrant and happy entrepreneurial class. Hence the new rich of Iraq have a degree of autonomy from
the regime unknown in over the last twenty years. The crucial question is the role they will playas sanctions are
either reformulated or lifted. A central role has been allocated to the private sector in the current government induced
building boom. Building materials imported into the country under the terms of the oil-for-food deal with the
U.N. are largely distributed through the private sector at subsidized costs. The result has been an up turn in
construction and the housing market. The fact that the government has chosen to rely on private sector contractors
to rejuvenate this part of the country's infrastructure indicates that Baghdad has developed a more positive
attitude to non-state economic actors. Possibly learning from the mistakes of the early 1990s the regime appears to
have learnt to live with a diversified and comparatively autonomous economic sector.
Michiel Leezenberg from Amsterdam University presented a paper on Democratization in Iraqi Kurdistan:
Achievements, Prospects and Constraints. He pointed out that after ten years of de facto Kurdish self-rule, Iraqi
Kurdistan knows moderate economic prosperity, but little durable political stability. Despite the shortcomings of
the Kurdish parties, the region is in most respects far better off under Kurdish rule than it has ever been under the
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