Progress and Challenges with Iraq's Multilevel Governance

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mingus, Matthew S.
• 署名单位: Western Michigan University
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3352
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2012.02538.x
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 678-686
• 关键词: FEDERALISM

摘要

Nations in the Arab world are largely unitary states, yet Iraq has embarked on a seemingly ambitious agenda of decentralization and devolution mixed with federalism. While local elections have been delayed at least until 2012, and indeed may never take place, Iraq's constitutional commitment to decentralize and subsequent statutory enactments appear to be turning provincial governments into significant actors in Iraqi governance. Progress has taken place at a slower, more deliberate pace than both proponents and opponents feared in 2002-6. This article discusses the current state of implementation of this process as a cornerstone of Iraqi democratic development, from the perspective of a former U. S. Department of State senior governance specialist who served on an embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team in 2009-10. These reconstruction teams were dismantled in the year leading up to September 6, 2011, as the American relationship with Iraq was normalized, though they likely will continue in Afghanistan into 2013.