@article{Wimmer:18719,
      recid = {18719},
      author = {Wimmer, Andreas},
      title = {DEMOCRACY AND ETHNO-RELIGIOUS CONFLICT IN IRAQ},
      address = {2003},
      number = {1546-2016-132295},
      series = {ZEF - Discussion Papers on Development Policy No. 72},
      pages = {23},
      year = {2003},
      abstract = {How can an escalation of tensions between the major  ethno-religious groups be avoided in a democratizing Iraq?  The first section explains why and under which conditions  democratization may stir up, rather than palliate ethnic  conflicts: when networks of civil society organizations  have not yet developed and if the state is too weak and  poor to be able to treat all citizens equally.

The second  section looks at the political history of Iraq, which is  characterized by increasing fragmentation and conflict  along ethnic lines. Pan-Arabism became the official state  ideology and Shii, Kurds, Jews and Christians were excluded  from positions of power and gradually driven out of the  officers corps and the higher ranks of the administration.  This Arabization of the Iraqi state was contested right  from the beginning, as a review of the history of Kurdish  and Shii uprisings will show. Throughout this history, the  divisions along ethno-religious lines have deepened.  Cross-ethnic parties (such as the Communists) and  organizations have split along these lines too. Rising  levels of repression increasingly directed against the  civilian population have further estranged Kurds, Shiis and  Christians from the Iraqi state and bolstered support for  their respective ethno-religious organizations.

Elections  are likely to stir up ethno-religious conflicts in the  future, if democratic institutions are not designed to  foster moderation and compromise. Several such designs are  discussed in the last section and the following will be  recommended: an electoral system that favors vote pooling  across ethnic lines; federalism on a non-ethnic basis with  a strong component of fiscal decentralization; a strong  regime of minority rights and a judicial apparatus capable  of enforcing the rule of law. Elections should come last,  not first in the process of institutional transformation.  International institutions can provide the legitimacy for  the continued outside supervision and support that are  needed, during years to come, to make democracy  sustainable.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/18719},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.18719},
}