ABSTRACT

Iraq began its transition towards a process of democratization that gradually achieved important gains in transferring some powers to the previously disenfranchised population. This transition has progressed from direct US rule, to partial Iraqi participation, and finally full Iraqi administration of the country. This chapter discusses the governance process in each phase and describes the challenges and examines the accomplishments toward better governance in a country that witnessed one of the worst authoritarian regimes in the modern world. There are three forms of corruption currently plaguing Iraq: political, administrative and financial. Each form contributes in its own way, and in collaboration with the other forms, to the failure of the country in its pursuit of progress and development. The Iraqi military, which had a bad history of destructive involvement in politics since the 1936 coup—the first military coup in the Arab world after the creation of modern Arab nation-states—is following a strict professional policy of adhering to civilian command.