The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq by O'Leary, Brendan; McGarry, John; Salih, Khaled;

Short description:

The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq appraises the consequences of the U.S.-led intervention in Iraq for its most neglected region.

Long description:

On March 19, 2003, the United States, the United Kingdom and a "coalition of the willing" invaded the Republic of Iraq. But one part of that state, Kurdistan, was already free from Saddam's B'athists. It was autonomous but not formally independent. The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq collects expert contributions on the consequences of the overthrow of Saddam's regime for the Kurds and the other peoples of Kurdistan.

The bulk of the published literature in English on the Kurds and Kurdistan has been historical or anthropological. This volume is the first in any language to address in detail the constitutional politics of Kurdistan's relations with the rest of Iraq, and Kurdistan's future constitutional options. The essays are innovative and contain detailed analysis and description. They evaluate how the relations between Kurdistan and predominantly Arab Iraq might—and should—be remade in a state marred by the legacies of genocide, ethnic expulsion, and coercive assimilation.

The volume includes contributions from political scientists, constitutional lawyers, regional experts, and Kurdistan's international constitutional advisory team and opens with a historical overview. The viewpoints present analyses of the Transitional Administrative Law of Iraq and Kurdistan's preferred vision of a pluri-national federation, of appropriate lessons from Canadian federative history, of the constraints facing the negotiators of Iraq's permanent constitution, and of the status of children in constitutional renewal. Essays on past failures for Kurdistan's autonomy, on Kurdish hopes and fears before the March 19 war, on Kurdistan's internal divisions, and on its external relations with Turkey give needed historical background to the debates. Contemporary pieces appraise mistakes made in the U.S. occupation of Iraq, and analyzes what Kurdistan's negotiators seek to have inserted in the negotiation of the Transitional Administrative Law and will want in any permanent constitution of Iraq. The "Postscript: Vistas of Exit from Baghdad" updates readers, and scans benign and malign scenarios for Kurdistan.

Also published in Kurdish and Arabic, this volume is the first in any language to address in detail the constitutional politics of Kurdistan's relations with the rest of Iraq, and Kurdistan's future constitutional options. Its authoritative contributors include political scientists, lawyers, and regional experts, and the three members of Kurdistan's international constitutional advisory team who assisted in preparation for the negotiation of the Transitional Administrative Law, and in preparation of the design of the electoral law of Iraq and Kurdistan.

Containing informed and constructive analysis, practical and fair prescriptions, this collection will interest all general readers who have followed the Iraq War, and will be especially useful to teachers, students, and public officials working in international relations, constitutional law, and the political science of national and ethnic conflicts.

Contributors: Ofra Bengio, Karna A. J. Eklund, Peter W. Galbraith, Michael M. Gunter, John McGarry, Molly McNulty, Brendan O'Leary, Khaled Salih, Gareth Stansfield, Karin von Hippel, Sophia Wanche, Paul R. Williams.

"When more than one hundred London-based diplomats, politicians, journalists, and international affairs analysts turn out for a discussion of a book, one knows that the book is timely and has something to say about pressing current international affairs and about its topic's potential for impacting regional and international geopolitical alignments. This is what happened on 31 May 2005 at Chatham House, a British think tank associated closely with the United Kingdom's Foreign Ministry. The book discussed was The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq, edited by Brendan O'Leary, John McGarry, and Khaled Salih. The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq well deserves the prestigious turnout it produced."—Mediterranean Quarterly

Table of Contents:

Note on Transliteration

Editors' Preface

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1. The Denial, Resurrection, and Affirmation of Kurdistan

—Brendan O'Leary and Khaled Salih

PART TWO: FEDERATIVE POSSIBILITIES

Chapter 2. Power-Sharing, Pluralist Federation, and Federacy

—Brendan O'Leary

Chapter 3. Canadian Lessons for Iraq

—John McGarry

Chapter 4. Negotiating a Federation in Iraq

—Karna Eklund, Brendan O'Leary, and Paul R. Williams

Chapter 5. Not to Be Forgotten: Children's Rights in the Permanent Constitution

—Molly McNulty

PART THREE: LEGACIES OF THE PAST

Chapter 6. Autonomy in Kurdistan in Historical Perspective

—Ofra Bengio

Chapter 7. Awaiting Liberation: Kurdish Perspectives on a Post-Saddam Iraq

—Sophia Wanche

Chapter 8. Governing Kurdistan: The Strengths of Division

—Gareth Stansfield

Chapter 9. Turkey's New Neighbor, Kurdistan

—Michael Gunter

PART FOUR: IMMEDIATE ISSUES

Chapter 10. What Went Wrong

—Peter W. Galbraith

Chapter 11. State-Building After Saddam: Lessons Lost

—Karin von Hippel

Chapter 12. Kurdistan in a Federal Iraq

—Peter W. Galbraith

Postscript: Vistas of Exits from Baghdad

—Brendan O'Leary

Appendix 1. Kurdistan's Constitutional Proposal

Appendix 2. Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the Transitional Period

Notes on Contributors