Arab democrats need ‘realistic pathways for change’
As a fresh wave of protests generates speculation about an Arab Spring 2.0, the challenge for MENA democrats is to move beyond calls for regime change and focus on building… Read more »
Tag: Iraq
Iraqi freedom vs. Iranian domination – or failed state?
For more than a month, Iraq’s protesters have withstood bullets and stun grenades, tear gas and water cannons, as they chanted, danced and called for the ouster of the entire… Read more »
Arab Spring 2.0? Understanding the New Wave of Protests
A new wave of protests and demonstrations has erupted across the Middle East and North Africa over the past 9 months, the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program observes. In… Read more »
Iraq’s ‘wobbly democracy faces most dangerous moment yet’
The streets of Baghdad were silent Tuesday after a week of peaceful protests — against corruption, unemployment and lack of basic services — turned deadly. More than 100 people were… Read more »
Iranian actions ‘actively threaten’ Iraqi democracy
The United States announced last month that it intends to keep troops in Syria to support Kurdish-led fighters there until the Islamic State has been completely routed and the area stabilized, notes… Read more »
Escalating domestic and regional tensions threaten Iraq
A wave of demonstrations protesting a lack of public services and government corruption have tested Iraq’s burgeoning government, while regional tensions have reached new heights, the Hudson Institute observes. Making… Read more »
As unrest flares, could more inclusion repair Iraq’s fractured democracy?
Iraqi security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition Wednesday as demonstrators took to the streets for a third day in the southern city of Basra. One person died and 21… Read more »
Arab populism succeeds where civil society fails
In this year’s key parliamentary elections in Iraq and Lebanon, formerly controversial populist figures performed far better than expected and are playing central roles in the scramble to form governments,… Read more »
Iraqi militias, US ‘make nice’ following elections?
Many Shiite armed factions in Iraq haven’t been threatening the United States of late, especially since they fared so well in the May 12 elections, receiving the second-most number of… Read more »
Why leftist-Islamist alliance won Iraq’s elections
Failure to predict the emergence of the leftist-Islamist alliance that won Iraq’s May elections resulted from a focus on elite politics and sectarian dynamics that obscured these underlying cross-ideological… Read more »