ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT There are many challenges to the development of democracy in Iraq: the many decades of authoritarian rule; ethno-sectarian divisions; lack of security; and the hegemony of the state over the national economy. But the right policies could transform these challenges into opportunities. Opinion makers should strive to resurrect into the collective memory of Iraqis the relatively liberal political practices of the 1921 – 58 period. Federal arrangements should bridge the ethno-sectarian divide, and an economy that shifts radically to the private sector should lessen middle class dependence on the state, thereby further eroding the centralisation of state power. The mushrooming of liberal and civil society institutions since April 2003 is an encouraging development.
