• Policy Analysis
    IraqDemocracy and Governance

    A Year of Mixed Results for Iraq’s Sudani

    Nov 8, 2023Rend Al-Rahim

    Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shi`a al-Sudani completed his first year in office on October 27 with a mixed record of successes and failures owing to objective…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Iraq, Sudani, and the War on Gaza

    Oct 25, 2023Rend Al-Rahim

    In the space of just over two weeks, Israel’s war on Gaza has upended Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shai` al-Sudani’s year-long careful balancing of Iraq’s for…

  • Policy Analysis
    TurkeyEnergy and Economics

    Turkey’s Ambitions in Iraq Play Out in Kirkuk

    Oct 3, 2023Mustafa Gurbuz

    In late August, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani stirred the pot of existing tensions when he ordered the evacuation of the Iraqi military’s Joint…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqDemocracy and Governance

    Iran’s Hardliners on the March: The Quiet Before the Storm?

    Aug 3, 2023Daniel Brumberg

    The recent redeployment of Iran’s dreaded “morality police” signals much more than a victory for the country’s hardliners. Instead, it seems to be part and par…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqDemocracy and Governance

    Sudani’s Premiership Is Failing in the Iraqi Fight Against Corruption

    Jul 12, 2023Patricia Karam

    When Mohammed Shia` al-Sudani became prime minister of Iraq, he made it a priority to combat endemic corruption in the country and help restore citizen trust i…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqUS Foreign Policy

    Shock and Awe: Life in Iraq Twenty Years after the US-led Invasion

    Jun 16, 2023Yara M. Asi

    This year marks a significant milestone in the American-led “Global War on Terror,” especially in relation to Iraq. It has been 20 years since former Secretary…

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantClimate and Environment

    Water Politics in the Tigris-Euphrates Basin

    May 30, 2023Achref Chibani

    While energy security and the control of oil have long been determining factors for geopolitical conflict in the Middle East, the region’s geopolitics have als…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqUS Foreign Policy

    Twenty Years after “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq: A Critical Assessment

    May 2, 2023Charles W. Dunne

    The crisis had been building for months when, on March 20, 2003, this author stood with a group of military officers deep inside the Pentagon, watching a telev…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqUS Foreign Policy

    Iraq 20 Years since the 2003 US Invasion

    On March 20, 2003, the United States led an invasion of Iraq supposedly meant to halt its development of weapons of mass destruction. Lacking the support of th…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqDemocracy and Governance

    Unfinished Business: Nation-Building in Iraq Since 2003

    Mar 21, 2023Rend Al-Rahim

    Nothing so perfectly expresses the failure of nation-building in Iraq as the cry of protesters in 2019, when they chanted, nureed watan, “we want a country.” T…

  • External Readings
    IraqUS Foreign Policy

    From Iraq to Ukraine: Reflections on imperial hubris

    Mar 20, 2023Marwan Bishara

    Twenty years ago, as the United States prepared to wage war on Iraq, then-Democratic Senator Joe Biden voted in favour of President George Bush’s reckless adve…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqDemocracy and Governance

    Iraqi Prime Minister al-Sudani Upstages His Benefactors in the Coordination Framework

    Jan 31, 2023Rend Al-Rahim

    Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, who was sworn in on October 27, 2022, has nearly completed the first 100 days of his tenure. In this short perio…