The Political Economy of Reproducing the instability and conflict in Post-Saddam Iraq

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• hamed kazemi ¹
• farhad daneshnia ²
• amir mohammad hajiyousefi ³

¹ Ph.D Student of Political Science, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran

² 2.(Corresponding Author), Associate Professor of International Relations, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran,

³ 3. Associate Professor of International Relations at Shahid Beheshti University

https://doi.org/10.22067/irlip.2023.73916.1198

Abstract

Iraq is one of the countries that potentially has a significant range of components determining security and achieving balanced development, such as a young population and rich hydrocarbon resources but the process of socio-economic development and sustainable security of Iraq, in the early decades of the 21st century, has led to a dangerous and problematic situation.. However, in the last two decades, since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, despite the billions of dollars in annual oil revenues and international aid, the country has been failed to provide the primary public services and confronted with the widespread poverty and unemployment, looting of public property and constantly violence by armed forces in it's political economy. The question is that, how can the reproduction of insecurity and the complexity of the socio-economic development process in post-Saddam Iraq be understood? The research hypotheses are designed in the framework of institutionalism theory of Douglass North in such a way that the development of a special type of political settlement in Post-Saddam Iraq within the framework of limited access order has provided the ground for the reproduction of violence and the problematic process of socio-economic development of this country. The research findings indicate that the transition from a limited and repressive order to a limited, fragile and pluralistic order has reduced the development policy process in post sadam Iraq to sectorial, non-inclusive and beneficial measures. The result of this situation has been a conflict between the government and rent-seeking forces in the form of conflict and the reproduction of insecurity and instability.

Keywords

• "Iraqi political economy"
• "limited access order"
• "political establishment". "capacity to resort to violence"