The risks and benefits of forming regions in Iraq after 2005

Abstract

The permanent Iraqi constitution of 2005 is one of the Iraqi constitutions that most explicitly stipulates, with detailed constitutional texts, the regions, their formation, and their relations with the federal government. This constitution (which is the first permanent constitution of the Iraqi state) even declared the Kurdistan region a federal region. These texts formed two currents, or trends: one of them is afraid of the idea of ​​forming regions, and called for rejecting this idea, or at least postponing it to a later time to establish democracy first on a broader scale. This current classifies the idea of ​​forming regions within the category of risks facing the Iraqi state. The second: is optimistic about the idea of ​​forming regions, and considers it an attractive source of benefits for the Iraqi reality due to the advantages it carries in political, administrative, legal, and economic organization.

Between these two currents or orientations, the Iraqi state has moved from one stage to another, during which calls for the establishment of regions emerged, similar to the Kurdistan Region. These calls vary between the demands of Sunni powers to establish a Sunni region that includes: Nineveh, Anbar, Salah al-Din, Diyala, in addition to the areas of the Baghdad Belt, and between the Basra Region or the Southern Region. These calls are renewed each time the Iraqi state faces economic, security, or political crises, seeking solutions or benefits that might be provided by the idea of establishing regions. However, the looming fears and risks persist, as these crises could escalate to greater crises than the formation of regions, namely the division of the Iraqi state, which is what those opposing the establishment of regions fear. From this, we will explore this research by explaining the benefits of establishing regions if the Iraqi state takes this path and outlining the potential risks resulting from it.