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| Volume XVI, Spring 2009, Number 1 |
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EXCERPT
Kurds in Iraq: The Struggle Between
Baghdad and Erbil
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| Gareth Stansfield and Liam Anderson |
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Dr. Stansfield is professor of Middle East politics at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies and director of the Centre for Ethno-Political Studies (EXCEPS) at the University of Exeter, UK, and an associate fellow of Chatham House.* Dr. Anderson is associate professor of political science at Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio, and a visiting fellow at EXCEPS, Exeter. Their co-authored book, Crisis in Kirkuk: The Ethnopolitics of Conflict and Compromise, is soon to be published by the University of Pennsylvania Press.
For those interested in ensuring Iraq’s stability and territorial integrity, the relationship between Arabs and Kurds is now of paramount importance. Indeed, it is a difficult task to identify any single problem over the forthcoming year that is not influenced in some way by the relationship between Baghdad and Erbil, the seat of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).1 To consider but a few: the negotiations over a much-needed Hydrocarbons Law remain deadlocked; the constitutional-reform process is moribund; the Iraqi government’s questioning of the legal status of the Kurdistan Army (the peshmerga) is matched by the KRG’s refusal to accept the legitimization of militias (the isnad) proposed by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki; and an immense swath of territory is claimed by both the KRG and the Iraqi government, including the geopolitically valuable province of Kirkuk. Even fundamental questions concerning the future of Iraq itself, particularly whether it will be truly federal or federal in name only, remain unresolved. Each one of these issues constitutes a significant challenge, and each requires concessions to be made in an environment that is far from conducive to compromise and consensus. Rather, the relationship between Baghdad and Erbil is characterized by suspicion, animosity and brinkmanship.
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