Iraq
PeaceRep’s Iraq research
Our research examines both the short and long-term drivers of conflict in Iraq. Five years on from the defeat of Islamic State, the group remains a low-level and largely rural insurgency. However, both short- and long-term drivers of instability continue to destabilise Iraq, causing both intra-elite and wide-scale violence.
Over the long-term, lack of quality education has left young Iraqis largely disenfranchised and without the skills necessary to find employment. This issue is set to become more urgent as a consequence of rapid population growth, with 400,000 young people entering the job market each year.
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The systemic failures of the Iraqi judicial system are another long-term driver of conflict. The widespread use of torture, combined with a highly politicised judiciary, the unlawful detention of minors suspected of affiliation with Daesh, and the denial of their fair trial and due process rights, fuels alienation and radicalism and is likely to trigger new insurgencies in the foreseeable future. In the near-term, Iraq’s political system, its sanctioning of systemic corruption and the government formation process in the aftermath of the October 2021 elections, drove intra-elite conflict which saw street clashes between rivalling militias.
Working with Iraqi researchers, PeaceRep will produce a series of publications on a range of key themes, aimed at informing policymaking on Iraq:
- Demographic change and conflict: the role of demographic change as a driver of conflict, as well as the role that youth and popular politics can potentially play in creating long-term stability.
- Geopolitics and the changing climate:regional battles over natural resources and water scarcity as drivers of instability.
- Politically sanctioned corruption: the impact of state and intra-sect fragmentation on corruption and political violence.
Our publications will be complimented by a series of workshops in Iraq and creative events in London that will bring our research to wider audiences, including film screenings, exhibitions and collaborations with Iraqi activists.
Team
PeaceRep’s Iraq work is led by the LSE Middle East Centre, and is managed and directed by Taif Alkhudary and Professor Toby Dodge with contributions from Iraq-based researchers.
Iraq Research
Blogs
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Publications
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