21. Iraq’s Political Factions: The Last Chance to Build a Governing Coalition?
- Author:
- Barry R. Posen
- Publication Date:
- 01-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- MIT Center for International Studies
- Abstract:
- President Bush is renewing his efforts to create an Iraq that can govern, sustain, and defend itself, and is throwing more resources at the project. The first priority must be governance, however, as administration and defense cannot happen without a functioning government. And government cannot function without a legitimate, broad-based, political consensus. Such a consensus has eluded Iraqis since March 2003, and the President’s new strategy includes no political program to create such a consensus. Instead, he counts on creating a coalition of existing “moderates,” which do not exist, as the intense violence within Iraq clearly demonstrates. Thus, the President’s troop increases, economic assistance, and intensified train- ing will likely prove futile.
- Topic:
- Imperialism, Democracy, State Building, and Iraq War
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, Middle East, and North America