Negotiating in Civil Conflict

Constitutional Construction and Imperfect Bargaining in Iraq

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, International, Foreign Legal Systems
Cover of the book Negotiating in Civil Conflict by Haider Ala Hamoudi, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Haider Ala Hamoudi ISBN: 9780226068794
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: November 12, 2013
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: Haider Ala Hamoudi
ISBN: 9780226068794
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: November 12, 2013
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

In 2005, Iraq drafted its first constitution and held the country’s first democratic election in more than fifty years. Even under ideal conditions, drafting a constitution can be a prolonged process marked by contentious debate, and conditions in Iraq are far from ideal: Iraq has long been racked by ethnic and sectarian conflict, which intensified following the American invasion and continues today. This severe division, which often erupted into violence, would not seem to bode well for the fate of democracy. So how is it that Iraq was able to surmount its sectarianism to draft a constitution that speaks to the conflicting and largely incompatible ideological view of the Sunnis, Shi’ah, and Kurds?

 

Haider Ala Hamoudi served in 2009 as an adviser to Iraq’s Constitutional Review Committee, and he argues here that the terms of the Iraqi Constitution are sufficiently capacious to be interpreted in a variety of ways, allowing it to appeal to the country’s three main sects despite their deep disagreements. While some say that this ambiguity avoids the challenging compromises that ultimately must be made if the state is to survive, Hamoudi maintains that to force these compromises on issues of central importance to ethnic and sectarian identity would almost certainly result in the imposition of one group’s views on the others. Drawing on the original negotiating documents, he shows that this feature of the Constitution was not an act of evasion, as is sometimes thought, but a mark of its drafters’ awareness in recognizing the need to permit the groups the time necessary to develop their own methods of working with one another over time.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In 2005, Iraq drafted its first constitution and held the country’s first democratic election in more than fifty years. Even under ideal conditions, drafting a constitution can be a prolonged process marked by contentious debate, and conditions in Iraq are far from ideal: Iraq has long been racked by ethnic and sectarian conflict, which intensified following the American invasion and continues today. This severe division, which often erupted into violence, would not seem to bode well for the fate of democracy. So how is it that Iraq was able to surmount its sectarianism to draft a constitution that speaks to the conflicting and largely incompatible ideological view of the Sunnis, Shi’ah, and Kurds?

 

Haider Ala Hamoudi served in 2009 as an adviser to Iraq’s Constitutional Review Committee, and he argues here that the terms of the Iraqi Constitution are sufficiently capacious to be interpreted in a variety of ways, allowing it to appeal to the country’s three main sects despite their deep disagreements. While some say that this ambiguity avoids the challenging compromises that ultimately must be made if the state is to survive, Hamoudi maintains that to force these compromises on issues of central importance to ethnic and sectarian identity would almost certainly result in the imposition of one group’s views on the others. Drawing on the original negotiating documents, he shows that this feature of the Constitution was not an act of evasion, as is sometimes thought, but a mark of its drafters’ awareness in recognizing the need to permit the groups the time necessary to develop their own methods of working with one another over time.

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book The Last Asylum by Haider Ala Hamoudi
Cover of the book Systematic Theology, Volume 2 by Haider Ala Hamoudi
Cover of the book Everyday Law on the Street by Haider Ala Hamoudi
Cover of the book Wild Sea by Haider Ala Hamoudi
Cover of the book Tales of the Field by Haider Ala Hamoudi
Cover of the book Pressed for Time by Haider Ala Hamoudi
Cover of the book The Blood of the Lamb by Haider Ala Hamoudi
Cover of the book Worldly Consumers by Haider Ala Hamoudi
Cover of the book The Nature of Diversity by Haider Ala Hamoudi
Cover of the book NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2016 by Haider Ala Hamoudi
Cover of the book History of Religious Ideas, Volume 2 by Haider Ala Hamoudi
Cover of the book Tocqueville in Arabia by Haider Ala Hamoudi
Cover of the book The Myth of Disenchantment by Haider Ala Hamoudi
Cover of the book Music and Capitalism by Haider Ala Hamoudi
Cover of the book In Defense of Disciplines by Haider Ala Hamoudi
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy