ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the contextual history to the regional dispute of territory in the north of Iraq, both administratively between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and symbolically between the ethnic groups in the region. It investigates how the regime change in 2003 simultaneously opened the door for administrative change and fortified ethnic identities due to heightened insecurity and absence of political control. Due to the growing insecurity and heightened regional competition, both minority groups and dominant ethnicities in Kirkuk and Ninewa have retreated into their own communities with increased ethnic enclaves and ethnically homogenous residential patterns. Much Iraqi and international attention has been devoted to defusing the ethnic tensions within the region. The combination of regional ethnic disputes, and nationwide identity politics, has served to elevate debates over territorial representation to the height of becoming issues of ethnic survival in Ninewa and Kirkuk.
