ABSTRACT
The study of the Kurdish de facto state is often examined against developments in Iraq as a whole. Thus, many accounts of this entity divide its formation into two stages, one beginning in 1991, and the second in 2003, with the overthrow of the Ba’ath regime. The 2003 war and its consequences certainly had a dramatic impact on the development of the KRG. Yet, we should bear in mind that these events did not instigate the emergence of the Kurdish de facto state. The KRG entered into its second decade of turbulent existence in 2001, and the period between 2000 and 2002 witnessed some events which were no less important than the 2003 war in the shaping of the KRG. Hence, the starting point of this chapter is the beginning of the second decade of the KRG’s existence.
