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1. Iraq Public Opinion Report 2024

Author:
Arab Barometer
Publication Date:
12-2024
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Barometer
Abstract:
If uncertainty was the key theme reverberating through Arab Barometer’s 2022 seventh wave findings in Iraq, emergent stability—however slight—is the main one echoing its eighth wave, at least with respect to domestic politics. To be sure, the country still faces many challenges, and protests over corruption, elections, women’s rights, climate change-induced power outages, among other issues have continued to episodically arise. But public sentiment appears to be responding to the efforts of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al-Sudani’s government, which has begun to tackle some of the country’s most pressing issues. For Iraqi citizens, corruption remains the biggest challenge facing the country, though there is a considerable increase in the share of citizens who suggest that the government is tackling the issue. Economic grievances, chief among which are a lack of jobs, also continue to preoccupy citizens. More than half of all Iraqis are confronting food insecurity, and sizable numbers are adapting negative coping strategies to access food. Even more pressing than the affordability of food is the affordability and availability of housing. Still, a small but rising share of citizens positively assess the government’s efforts to create jobs and curb inflation. So, despite ongoing challenges, optimism about the future of the economy is on the rise, signifying the reversal of an otherwise downward trend that had been effect since 2013.
Topic:
International Relations, Corruption, Environment, Gender Issues, Public Opinion, Democracy, Economy, and Survey
Political Geography:
Iraq and Middle East

2. Iraq Country Report 2021-2022

Author:
Arab Barometer
Publication Date:
12-2022
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Arab Barometer
Abstract:
The challenges Iraq has faced between 2021 and 2022 are numerous but not new: political impasses, violent crackdowns on protests, foreign interference, the economic and social fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, sand and dust storms, electricity shortages, and protracted internal displacement are among the few. While once seen as a way of ushering in solutions to these challenges, the October 2021 parliamentary elections instead left in their wake a wave of political turbulence that surged in the summer of 2022. In June, MPs of the Sadrist Movement, led by populist Shiia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr, resigned after failing to build a coalition, despite having won the plurality of seats. The political stalemate came to a head in July. Iraqi protesters stormed and occupied parliament ahead of a session where the Coordination Framework, an Iran-backed alliance of Shiite parties that rival the Sadrist movement, was set to gather to elect a new prime minister. Violent protests spilled into August and onto the streets of Baghdad and Southern Iraq, leaving 30 dead and scores more injured. Findings from Arab Barometer’s seventh wave in Iraq predate but to an extent foreshadow the frustration that peaked in the summer of 2022. Citizens perceive corruption to be as high as their trust in political institutions is low. With a plurality seeing the parliamentary elections as significantly flawed, Iraqis bemoan the lack of governmental responsiveness to their grievances. Yet, there is no consensus about what the biggest domestic challenges are, let alone what solutions to them are, or what avenues provide the best course of redress. If there is one theme that runs through citizens’ evaluations of economic and political conditions in Iraq, it is uncertainty. Iraqis appear to be in agreement that there is no silver bullet solution, but whatever reform the system demands, Iraqis increasingly want it immediately rather than incrementally. Affected populations are diverse, but no one is unscathed.
Topic:
International Relations, Corruption, Environment, Gender Issues, Politics, Governance, Public Opinion, Democracy, Economy, Institutions, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Iraq and Middle East