ABSTRACT
Iraq since the 2003 war is a country with very different looks – an autonomous Kurdish north that has prospered; many areas ravaged by insurgencies, militias, and ISIS; a political system predicated upon federal democracy but filtered through sectarianism and corruption; and finally an economy dependent upon oil exports, which has slowly recovered despite insecurity and violence. The country’s future stability depends not just on support from the international system, but on regional trends and the capacity of Iraqi policymakers to move beyond parochialism.
