home > by publication type > must reads > World Policy Journal: Machiavelli in Mesopotamia: Nouri al-Maliki Builds the Body Politic
Email
| Author: | Ned Parker |
|---|
Spring 2009
In this article, Ned Parker describes the ruling style of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and the implications for the future of democracy in Iraq.
BAGHDAD, IRAQ-The country has gone through hell. The morning explosions, round the clock mortaring, day and night gun battles. The bodies dumped on the periphery of neighborhoods. The Shiite and Sunni families who fled their homes after threat letters were slipped under their doors.
All that is finished now. Iraq's open civil war, lasting from 2006 until late 2007, has ended. The war affirmed the durability of the new Shiite-led Iraqi state. What has come since is an extended truce, in which Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has begun to consolidate his power and mastery over Iraq's security forces, asserting his will on the provinces.
For now, those rival factions-tribes, insurgent groups, Shiite militias-have come to see the benefits of forging alliances withBaghdad and the consequences of failing to do so. As the situation calms, the country has started to resemble not a Western-style democracy, which was the goal when the United States invaded, but the authoritarian model that governed Iraq until 2003: a place where a strong leader guarantees stability and citizens rally around the state,with one crucial difference-Iraq's Shiite majority is now in charge, not its onetime Sunni elite. After years of violence and the displacement of millions, Shiites and Sunnis are slowly finding ways to accommodate one another, all under the watchful eye of a single flag and leader in Baghdad.
For the moment, that leader is al-Maliki.To anger him is to risk endless harassment, exile, or imprisonment. To strike an alliance with al-Maliki is an opportunity to amass power and protection from enemies.
To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.
For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1.212.434.9516 or email publications@cfr.org.
Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.