Upload
others
View
4
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
0
Department of Social Science
Master of Peace and Development work
Module 4FU42E
Donors’ Conditionality in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding: The
Case of Iraq
Author: Deema Ktaileh
Supervisor: Lennart Wohlgemuth
Date of Seminar: 26/08/2016
1
Acknowledgment
I would like to thank my tutor, Lennart Wohlgemuth, for his encouragement, patience and
invaluable guidance. I wish to express my gratitude to my other lecturers at Linnaeus University.
To my family and my friends, no words can describe how thankful I am for your love, support to
pursue my degree and pushing me forward.
2
Abstract
Post-conflict peacebuilding in Iraq started in 2003 following the military invasion by the
Coalition of Willing forces. Since 2003, numerous actors have involved themselves in Iraq’s
peacebuilding including governments, NGOs, the UN and the international financial institutions.
Also, various activities and actions have been implemented in the humanitarian, political and
economic domains. Today, all the indicators show that the country still faces the challenges of
conflict, chaos as well as weak social and economic development. Many scholars attribute that to
the deteriorating security conditions, which raises the questions of why does the country still face
insecurity and why has peace not been consolidated? This research examines the impact of
donors’ conditionality on post-conflict peacebuilding in Iraq. As the liberal peace is the basis of
contemporary practice of peacebuilding, this research draws on the liberal peace theory as a
point of departure. The Liberal peace is used as theoretical lenses in order to understand donors’
strategies and arguments in the context of Iraq, according to two main themes, political and
economic transition. Overall, this research finds that the donors’ policy packages focused on how
to build liberal democratic and a free market state. Donors, primarily the US, aimed at enhancing
their control over the political process and formed the political structures according to their
interests foremost and not according to the public will. The local community has not been
adequately engaged or consulted. Also, transforming Iraq into a free-market economy by relying
on the private sector to stimulate economic growth and restricting the role of the state while the
country faces security problems has led to weak outcomes in all social and economic sectors.
Key words: peace conditionality, donors’ conditionality, liberal peace, Iraq.
3
List of Abbreviations
AusAID Australian Agency for International Development
CPA Coalition Provisional Authority
GDP Gross Domestic Product
HDI Human Development Indicators
IFIs International Financial Institution
INGOs International NGOs
NCCI NGOs Coordination Committee for Iraq
NGOs Non-Governmental Organizations
PMSC Private Military and Security Companies
SIGIR Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction
SOEs State-Owned Enterprises
UN The United Nations
UNDP United Nations Development Program
USAID US Agency for International Development
4
List of Figures and Tables
Figure 1………. Liberal peace
Figure 2………. Iraq’s social indicators
Table 1……… Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Iraq
Table 2 ……… The estimation of Iraq reconstruction needs
5
Contents Chapter One-Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 7
1-1 Problem Statement ........................................................................................................................... 7
1-2 Research Objective and Relevance: ................................................................................................ 8
1-3 Research Questions: ....................................................................................................................... 11
1-4 Methods and Theoretical Framework .......................................................................................... 11
1-5 Disposition ....................................................................................................................................... 12
Chapter two- Theoretical Framework & Literature Review ................................................................ 12
2-1 Theoretical framework ................................................................................................................... 12
Liberal Peace Theory ........................................................................................................................ 12
Liberal Democracy ............................................................................................................................ 15
Liberal economics ............................................................................................................................. 17
Critics to liberal peace theory ......................................................................................................... 19
How the Theoretical Framework will be Applied? ........................................................................ 21
2-2 Review of existing literature: ......................................................................................................... 21
Peace conditionality .......................................................................................................................... 22
Statebuilding policy in Situations of Conflict and Fragility .......................................................... 24
Chapter Three-Methodology Framework: ............................................................................................. 27
3-1 Research Design .............................................................................................................................. 27
3-2 Research Logic ................................................................................................................................ 28
3-3 Data selection .................................................................................................................................. 29
3-4 Data Analyses methods .................................................................................................................. 30
3-5 Limitations and Delimitations ....................................................................................................... 31
3-6 Validity and Reliability .................................................................................................................. 32
Chapter Four- Presentation and Analyses of Research Results ........................................................... 32
4-1 Background ..................................................................................................................................... 33
4-2 The Pledges of Donors .................................................................................................................... 36
4-3 Political transition ........................................................................................................................... 40
The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) ................................................................................... 40
The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) ................................................................................................ 41
National conference in transitional period ..................................................................................... 42
6
Constitution-making ......................................................................................................................... 43
Democracy Between Theory and Practice ...................................................................................... 44
4-4 Economic transition ........................................................................................................................ 45
Privatization and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) ...................................................................... 46
The role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) ................................................................ 48
Financial and Monetary reforms ..................................................................................................... 50
Infrastructure .................................................................................................................................... 52
Private Security Companies ............................................................................................................. 53
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 54
References .................................................................................................................................................. 56
7
Chapter One-Introduction
This chapter provides an introduction to this research.
1-1 Problem Statement
Since the end of the cold war, the international community has been increasingly engaged in
internal conflicts using military, diplomacy and economic instruments. In the aftermath of
conflict, post-conflict countries with assistance from the international community face the
challenge of building peace. The aim of peacebuilding according to the former UN Secretary-
General Kofi Annan is “to create the conditions necessary for a sustainable peace in war-torn
societies” (Paris, 2004, p.2). Hence, post-conflict peacebuilding includes efforts aimed at
improving the security, economic, social and political conditions in a country in order to
consolidate peace (Tzifakis & Huliaras, 2015). Post-conflict peacebuilding in Iraq refers to the
efforts that have been done by the Iraqi society and the international community after Iraq’s
invasion by the coalition’s forces in 2003. Since 2003 numerous actors have involved in Iraq’s
peacebuilding, including, governments, NGOs, the UN and the international financial
institutions. Also, various activities and actions have been implemented in the humanitarian,
political and economic domains. The second largest stabilization and reconstruction operations in
U.S history, after Afghanistan, are the nine-year in Iraq (SIGIR, 2013). About $60 billion in U.S.
taxpayer dollars and billion more in Iraqi funds were expended (ibid). Nowadays, after 13 years
of those activities, Iraq still faces the challenges of conflict, chaos as well as weak social and
economic development. Democracy is ineffective, and Iraqi people are more and more
disillusioned about their politicians.
However, the countries which emerge from long-term conflict suffer from weak economics and
fragile societies, therefore it will be vulnerable to a return to the conflict after the peace
agreement is signed (Nilsson, 2013). Hence, the success of peace agreement requires a
collaboration between all actors to create a sufficient and suitable strategy of peacebuilding,
taking into consideration the priorities of the country with long term vision in order to achieve
8
sustainable development (Nilsson, 2013). Therefore, donors have been under pressure to fund
peacebuilding efforts and development initiatives in war-torn societies in an “appropriate” way.
In order to achieve this objective, one of the tools used by donors is conditionality. Donors apply
peace conditionality in order to propel the peace process forward, but what we have seen in Iraq
is that the situation anyway continued to deteriorate since 2003. The overall problem that this
research aims to investigate is: why the peace has not been built in Iraq? and more specifically,
why donor efforts have not been able to consolidate peace there?
1-2 Research Objective and Relevance:
It has been said that in answering the questions: who is peacebuilding, and what purposes does it
serve? We find that these questions are related to a large extent to donor’s interests (Tzifakis &
Huliaras, 2015). Therefore, this research investigates the extent to what donors’ conditionality
serves the needs of the majority in Iraq. Also, the nexus between aid conditionality and
peacebuilding process in Iraq will be investigated. Moreover, post-conflict peacebuilding efforts
play a fundamental role in promoting peace and formulating the future structures of war-torn
societies. They affect post-conflict countries in two-ways. First, they contribute to address the
underlying causes of conflict in order to enhance stability. Second, they contribute to determine
the future political and economic structures in the country.
Since, the international donors get increasingly involved in the peacebuilding process, the debate
arises about the effectiveness of so-called “peace conditionality” in the related activities (Frerks,
2006). Donors require specific reforms, and the main instrument to achieve these reforms has
been different types of conditionality in order to add credibility to their own policies. In the wake
of the 1980s debt crisis, bilateral donors and the international institutions such as the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank began to increase their conditionality
and dictate market-oriented policies in return for their loans (Montinola, 2007). The World Bank
tied its funds to “structural adjustment programs” which included requirements of public sector
reform and privatization (Montinola, 2007).
The analysis in this research includes peace conditionality at political and economic levels by all
donors engaged in Iraq’s peacebuilding. However, most conditions are related to the liberal
9
peace agenda of the international institutions and key donors. The actors involved in post-
conflict peacebuilding are manifold and act at different levels including governments, civil
society, regional and international organizations. However, the externally-driven peacebuilding
operations are very complex, and differ according to donors’ vision and strategy. These
operations require delivering huge amounts of money to war-affected countries through different
channels. Those channels include non-governmental organization (NGOs), the private military
and security companies (PMSC) as well as the state agencies (Tzifakis & Huliaras, 2015). The
identification of the appropriate channel depends on the strategy of the contracting country
(Tzifakis & Huliaras, 2015).
Post-conflict peacebuilding in Iraq started in 2003 and is still ongoing. It has cost billions of
dollars and too many lives, while all indicators point at that the country still suffer from chaos,
insecurity, corruption and poverty. Hence, the research objective is to provide deep-
understanding of donors and aid conditionality in the context of Iraq. According to OECD’s
statistics, the outsourcing of post-conflict reconstruction tasks through NGOs and PMSCs has
increased since 2006. In her article (2007), Suhrke says that the most prominent donors in
reconstruction operations since 1990 are the aid organizations and the UN agencies, which are
responsible for designing, financing, and monitoring post-war reconstruction programmes.
Although, billions of dollars have been spent in Iraq’s peacebuilding in order to rebuild the
infrastructure and consolidate peace, the statistics show that the development aspects are still
fragile and weak. According to the World Bank, unemployment rate in 2014 was 16.4% of total
labor force (World Bank, 2016). While 23% of Iraqis live on less than US% 2.2 a day (UNDP,
2015). Also, the security situation in the country is still bad. As a result of all this, an
investigation of the reasons behind the insufficient peacebuilding in Iraq will add value to
improve the future peacebuilding efforts.
According to the final Report from Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction: Learning
from Iraq, released in March 2013, Stuart Bowen acknowledged the lost opportunities of the
United States extraordinary efforts there. Also, he asserts the need to improve the US approach
to peacebuilding (SIGIR, 2013). The US spent $60 billion on reconstruction efforts since 2003,
according to the same report. Madrid donor conference held in 2003, estimated Iraq's
10
reconstruction needs is about $55 billion over several years (Pan, 2003). However, what is
worthy to be noticed is that post-war economic reconstruction in Iraq was planned by US for
many months on the back of its planned invasion (Brown, 2005).
In their article (2016) Hassin and Isakhan examine Australia’s post-conflict reconstruction and
development initiatives after the intervention in Iraq in 2003. They found that Australia like the
other donors did support the liberal peacebuilding model. As an example of key donor beyond
US, Australia didn’t have a coherent plan with clear vision and key goals with regard to its post-
conflict reconstruction and development projects in Iraq. Despite the importance of Australian
role in post-conflict peacebuilding in Iraq, there was an obvious absence of a plan and only in the
context of 2007 Australian federal election when the potential of Australia’s withdrawal from
Iraq became a controversial political issue, the government released documents on three years of
reconstruction and development projects in Iraq. It also outlined a strategy for the Australian
Agency for International Development (AusAID), which refers to three goals: supporting
agriculture; supporting public sector governance; improving basic service delivery and
supporting vulnerable populations.
Australia followed two ways to deliver aid in order to achieve those goals. The first way was to
continue give the money to NGOs which were neither Iraqi nor Australian. For example, the Iraq
Emergency Medicine Care Development Program, which aims to enhance the capacity of Iraqi
state employees as well as UN agencies such as the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN
Development Programme (UNDP) which were in charge of implementing the projects on the
ground like mine-clearing, rehabilitation of schools and other humanitarian efforts (ibid). The
second way was based on partnership with Iraqi government to enhance the capacity of key Iraqi
state institutions. As a result, over 600 Iraqis government employees got training, and several
state institutions were established to play the role of oversight and accountability (Hassin and
Isakhan, 2016).
11
1-3 Research Questions:
The research questions to answer the research objective are the following:
1- What are the conditions that donors in Iraq have been pursuing?
2- What impact has donors’ conditionality in post-conflict peacebuilding had in the context of
Iraq?
3- What are the arguments used by donors to apply peace conditionality in Iraq?
1-4 Methods and Theoretical Framework
“Focus on how to make peace might have turned our attention away from what kind of peace is
actually being made” (Rasmussen, 2010, p.175). Based on this idea, in order to understand what
kind of peace has been made in Iraq, this research draws on liberal peace theory as a point of
departure. Since the end of the Cold War, liberal approach became the privileged approach to
build peace by the international institutions and key donors. The key elements of liberal peace
are liberal democracy and free-market economy. In more details, liberal peace dynamics include:
privatization, the rule of law, restriction the role of the state and active civil society, etc.
This research draws on the liberal peace theory presented primarily in the works of Oliver
Richmond, Roland Paris, Michael Pugh and others. In his article (2005) Michael Pugh provides a
critical theory perspective of political economy of peacebuilding. Pugh claims that “The liberal
peace has come under sustained pressure as a consequence of critiques and failures in practice.
Pragmatic shifts, to some extent towards pro-poor and emancipatory engagement with local
populations, have occurred” (Pugh, 2005, p.38). This research will also use a critical analysis of
liberal peace practice in the context of Iraq.
The research design chosen for this work is a case study. Robert Yin defines a case study as “an
empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context,
especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident” (Yin,
1994, P.13). The data are analyzed according to the qualitative data analysis methods and include
12
coding and thematic analysis. Abductive reasoning will be applied, as this research seeks to
investigate the impact of donors’ conditionality in Iraq through theoretical lenses.
1-5 Disposition
The content of this study is organized into five chapters. Chapter one contains an introduction to
the research which shades light on the topic of the study, and presents: statement of problem,
research objectives and relevance, research questions, and concludes with the structure of the
thesis. Subsequently, chapter two introduces and explains liberal peace theory and presents the
motivation for choosing this analytical framework. The second chapter also presents a literature
review on peace conditionality and statebuilding in fragile states. The concept of peace
conditionality will be clarified more in this chapter. Chapter three contains the methodological
framework, and the methods used to analyze the data. Also the limitations and delimitations,
validity and reliability are presented in this chapter. Chapter five present first a background
introducing Iraq, then the finding as well as the analyses of this finding will be presented in this
chapter. The final chapter summarises the conclusions of the study, as well as gives some
recommendations.
Chapter two- Theoretical Framework & Literature Review
The theoretical and analytical framework is presented in this chapter. The theory used in this
study is the liberal peace theory. The second section of this chapter comprises a literature review
with respect to the topic of the study.
2-1 Theoretical framework
Liberal Peace Theory
In the era of post-Cold War, the liberal orientation managed to be prevailing at various domains.
There was a consensus that economic and political liberalism could be a solution to wide range
of political, economic and social problems. This included conflict resolution, development and
environment issues (Paris, 2010). This trend has reflected in the mindset of policy makers in the
western-oriented international society and states as well as in the academic and public
publications. Fukuyama’s claim that the human mankind had reached the endpoint of its
13
ideological evaluation, which is the liberalism, affected by post-Cold war euphoria is a very good
case in point (Fukuyama, 2006).
Accordingly, this dominant ideology has reflected in the peacebuilding approach, to become the
“liberal peace” the most effective recipe for war-torn societies. It can be said that liberal peace is
a peacebuilding consensus shared by UN, agencies, major donors and NGOs. It has dominated
their strategies of peacebuilding for at least the last twenty years (Richmond, 2006). The liberal
peace in this context means mainly liberal democracy and free-markets economy (ibid).
Moreover, the components of liberal peace are democratization, governance, the rule of law,
human rights, free and globalized markets, active civil society, neo-liberal development and
centralized secular state (ibid). This theory called internationally also “democratic peace”, based
on the idea that democracies which are liberally constituted tend to be more peaceful in their
internal affairs as well as their external relationships (Newman, Paris and Richmond, 2009).
According to Richmond (2006), liberal peace can be divided into three models based on the
evolution of conflict management and conflict resolution mechanisms. These models are
conservative, orthodox and emancipatory (ibid). The conservative model is the model applied in
Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. It is based on the idea of imposing peace by force rather than by
consensus and negotiation. According to this approach, peacebuilding is conducted through a
top-down approach, in which peacebuilding is led by states and donors, this means by external
actors without taking into account the specificity and features of the political situation on the
ground. The second model of liberal peace is the Orthodox, which is based on military presence
and the imposition of free-market economic dynamics on the state. This model had been applied
in countries such as, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. The third model is the emancipatory
model of liberal peace. This model aims to overcome the problems of the previous models. It is
an attempt to create a more legitimate model of peacebuilding. It takes into consideration the
specificity and the political conditions of each country, beyond the domination of elites’
interests, as well as based on bottom-up approach. However, according to Richmond, this
approach is still non-viable as long as it operates under the umbrella of liberal peace. It has not
managed to be applicable yet in any of post-conflict countries (ibid).
14
International peacebuilding in post-conflict societies includes humanitarian assistance,
improving the internal security, development projects at both the formal level as well as the
public level and assistance toward better governance. These operations have been developed
after the cold-war according to the diversity in conflict zones, the needs of the recipients and the
diversity of the actors and donors involved. Such activities have included, enhancing ceasefire
and peace processes; responding to the refugees needs; stabilizing the economy and the creation
of job opportunities; resolving the problems of food insecurity; strengthening legislation and
justice institutions; addressing lands issues and enhancing reconciliation, human rights as well as
a wide range of other activities and values (Newman, Paris and Richmond, 2009). Hence, liberal
peacebuilding is a long term process, aiming to achieve political, social and economic reforms.
On the other hand, the assumption that the liberal values are appropriate and applicable for all
conflicted and divided societies could create a contradiction between local communities’ needs
and the international community’s agenda of liberal peace. Moreover, this might lead to neglect
the actual needs of the locals (Richmond, 2006).
As mentioned above liberal peace theory is based on the following two pillars: liberal democracy
and free-market economy.
Figure 1: Liberal Peace
Liberal Democracy
Liberal Peace
Free-market Economy
15
Liberal Democracy
As Rhoden states in his article (2015) The liberal in liberal democracy, much of the works to
consolidate democracy are dominated by the lack of conceptual clarity. This could be clarified
by analysis their components, which are liberal by nature.
Liberal democracy is the contemporary form of political system which is present in the world’s
most powerful countries, and being tried in many other countries (Bollen, 1993). Therefore, it is
relevant to refer to this form of democracy when researching a contemporary peacebuilding
effort.
To explain liberal democracy, this research will primarily draw on Bollen’s article (1993).
Bollen defines liberal democracy as:
“The extent to which a political system allows political liberties and democratic rule.
Political liberties exist to the extent that the people of a country have the freedom to
express a variety of political opinions in any media and the freedom to form or to
participate in any political group. Democratic rule (or political rights) exists to the extent
that the national government is accountable to the general population, and each individual
is entitled to participate in the government directly or through representatives” (Bollen,
1993, p.1208).
Another definition is presented by Schumpeter: "the institutional arrangement for arriving at
political decisions in which the individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a
competitive struggle for the people's vote.” (Schumpeter, 1950, p.269). All modern nations have
both democratic and liberal components. Some might be more democratic, whilst others might
be more liberal (Rhoden, 2015). When a nation has a high level of democracy, it has more
political equality, while low democracy means the opposite. On the other hand, a high level of
liberalism means more rights, while low liberalism means deficit when it comes to the rule of
law and civil liberties. The two components of liberal democracy do not fit together always;
some aspects seem in conflict with each other (ibid).
16
Does liberal democracy work in the developing countries? Rodrik (2016) discusses this issue, he
points out that two forces can be obstacles to achieve liberal democracy in the developing
countries. First, the lack of liberal traditions in the decolonizing countries, since democracy
requires a certain level of societal maturity. Second, the forces of industrialization, which was
important to achieve democracy in the west, as it turns the conflict between the elite and nonelite
to be about labor market regulations and welfare state dynamics (ibid). Industrialization is much
weaker today in the developing countries. This is according to Rodrik due to two factors,
technology and globalization. Since manufacturing is becoming more skill-intensive, this has
created a problem due to the lack of skilled labor in the poor countries. On the globalization
front, the decline of trade restriction as well as the flood of cheap imports have pushed a lot of
manufacturers to collapse in the developing countries. The prospects of deindustrialization
generate unemployment patterns and lack of organized institutions. In such circumstances, elites
could easily exploit the identity cleavages to achieve economic interests, while the social
movements would be hardly able to make a real change (Rodrik, 2016).
In order to explain why do externally-driven reforms often fail in transitioning regimes, in their
article (2016), Groß and Grimm try to challenge the common explanations that the failure of
external democracy promotion is due to a lack of domestic capacity and willingness to
implement democratization and statebuilding agenda (Groß and Grimm, 2016). The attribution
of liberal democratic reforms mainly to the lack of capacity and willingness of the domestic
stakeholders could be an obstacle to take into account the domestic support and needs toward
coordinated reforms (ibid). The domestic actors could have legitimate reasons to resist the
external reforms which are not aligned with their own needs and interests (ibid). The authors
emphasis the importance of involving third-party stakeholders in the reforms, and the role of
domestic government to compromise their own interests as well as the interest of the third-party
stakeholders and the external actors (ibid).
Taking up the liberal democracy promotion model in Iraq, Bridoux and Russell in their article
(2013) try to draw lessons from Iraq’s peacebuilding, which could be constructive in the wake of
the Arab uprisings. They demonstrate that there was a lack of operational flexibility in the
democratization program in Iraq in 2003 and 2004. This led to a clash between democracy and
17
socio-economic demands as well as the local realities (Bridoux and Russell, 2013). Despite the
variation between Iraq and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa, the authors claim
that there is a sufficient similarity between those cases. This would attract the attention of
democracy promoters to implement similar model of democracy, which has been implemented in
Iraq, in the other countries in the region. According to the authors, the liberal democracy
promotion in Iraq failed. Hence, the fundamental questions are: what type of democracy
promotion matters? Furthermore, “does the dominance of liberal democratic as the Western
democracy promotion paradigm still make sense?” (Bridoux and Russell, 2013, p.328). As an
answer to this question, the authors suggest to keep in mind by local and international actors the
conceptual variants of democracy, such as participatory democracy and social democracy. These
different forms of democracy could collaboratively address social and economic injustice
concerns. While, focus on the liberal democracy as the only optimal model of democracy would
fuel socio-economic and political instability in some cases as what happened in Iraq (ibid).
Liberal economics
The pros and cons of free-market economy is a subject of debate all over the world. It is widely
defined as a market economy based on supply and demand, where the government imposes little
or no restrictions and regulations. This research will focus on the concept of free-market
economy in conjunction with post-conflict peacebuilding.
As mentioned before free-market economy is a key element in liberal peacebuilding. According
to Pugh (2005), the economic patterns of post-conflict transformation have been dictated by
external agencies to a large extent. Pugh (2005) and Brown (2005) describe the liberal economic
structures as following: reducing the role of the state, where the state in addition to the
international regulations should have its role mainly to maximize competition and preserve free
trade; elimination of tariffs; fair competition and guard against fraudulence; reliance on
privatization, exports and foreign investment to stimulate economic growth. Both authors agree,
basing themselves on plentiful evidences, that this range of economic and monetary reforms is in
favor of business, and quest for private affluence. On the other hand, it is indifferent towards the
poor, culture and environment as well as the public and collective space. Moreover, it aggravates
the vulnerability of people to poverty (Pugh, 2005).
18
The economic model of liberal peacebuilding is derived to a large extent from the Washington
Consensus (Pugh, 2005). However, there is a wide debate among scholars as well as inside the
financial institutions to go beyond this consensus. The Washington Consensus is a set of 10
principles adopted by the US and the international financial institutions. It is considered as
"standard" reform package and correct path of development for developing countries. It is often
seen as other words of “neoliberalism” and “globalization.” The framework of Washington
consensus includes the following points (Filho, 2010).
Fiscal discipline for limiting budget deficits
A redirection of public expenditure priorities toward fields offering both high economic
returns and the potential to improve income distribution, such as primary health care,
primary education, and infrastructure
Tax reform: to lower marginal rates and broaden the tax base
Interest rate should be market-determined
Trade liberalization
Increasing of inflows of foreign direct investment
Privatization of state enterprises
Deregulation that impede the entry of new firms, except in the areas of safety,
environment and finance
Secure intellectual property rights
Washington consensus has been criticized because its recipes failed to generate economic growth
in the countries which applied it. The criticism led to develop this consensus into post-
Washington consensus (Marango, 2012). The package of ideas and policies aims to post-
Washington Consensus included: an agreement that a successful development strategy cannot
come only from Washington but must include the developing world; development requires a
balanced role between the state and the market and the strengthening of the institutions in each;
manage liberalized trade and monetary systems; concessions to social welfare through targeted
social safety nets; including other success measurements in addition to the GDP such as income
distribution as well as social and environmental sustainability (Marango, 2012). This mix of
market and institutional reforms were consolidated later in the so-called Poverty Reduction
Strategy Papers (PRSP's). For many, the post-Washington consensus differs fundamentally from
the original. While for others the original neo-liberal agenda still underpins the post-Washington
19
consensus, and the core of it remains the same: trade liberalization, deregulation and
privatization.
Another shift in the political economic aspects of the international development agenda to be
more pro-poor and social protection economic is the Sustainable Development goals SDGs. The
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), officially known as Transforming our World: the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development. It is an intergovernmental set of aspiration. The agenda
contained 17 goals with 169 targets covering a broad range of sustainable development issues.
These include: ending poverty and hunger; improving health and education; making cities more
sustainable; combating climate change, and protecting oceans and forests as well as promoting
sustained economic growth and building resilient infrastructure and promoting industrialization
(UN, 2015).
Back to Pugh (2005), he asserts the notable shifts in peacebuilding and development agenda,
whereas, the liberal peace agenda is under pressure of criticism due to the failures in practice.
On the other hand, he emphasis the need to answer the question: what purposes does
peacebuilding serve? According to the author, by answering this question, we can identify the
real targeted beneficiaries of peacebuilding aid, and go beyond the dominated frameworks,
which serve the interest of specific capitalists as the only available options. As long as the liberal
agenda dominate the peacebuilding efforts, there is continuously potential to reproduce the same
problems in practice, “However, without transformation of the IFIs, and the liberal agenda itself,
subjugation rather than emancipation will continue to be injected into the political economy of
peacebuilding” (Pugh, 2005, p.38).
Critics to liberal peace theory 1
The concept of liberal peacebuilding and its approach to stabilize post-conflict societies are
problematic. This has raised a debate about the international efforts in peacebuilding concerning
the framework of the liberal peace and its values, which are not necessarily universally
1 These criticisms are derived from criticisms presented by Oliver Richmond, Roland Paris and Michael Pugh.
20
applicable. This theory has been under growing criticism and most of the criticism include the
following points:
The liberal economic dimension of liberal peace is not necessarily suitable for societies in
conflict which do not have stable institutions. Yet, according to this point, there is
incompatibility between democratization and economic reforms at certain stages, which
could lead to fundamental weaknesses in the relation between the liberal peace and the
economic prosperity of individuals.
The liberal agenda of development projects’ donors raises important questions about their
objectivity and their ability to end civil war through their impact. For example, in some
cases the imposition of the liberal agenda could exacerbate economic-social tension, and
the promotion of liberal democracy could exacerbate political conflict and division.
Donors’ agenda could be “thin or thick” and could play the role of “carrot or stick”.
Therefore, choosing an appropriate strategy in an appropriate area is a fundamental factor
for consolidating peace.
Focus on the governance as a long-term institutional process by investing in key’s
institutions and private sector, raises the question about the extent to which liberal
peacebuilding activities are premised on grass-roots engagement, in order to deliver
benefits to the most vulnerable.
Poor coordination between different actors involved in peacebuilding activities and
weak consensus between the UN, major states, donors, agencies and NGOs, and the
potential contradiction between the different goals of peacebuilding.
From this analysis, it can be seen that the international peacebuilding project revolves currently
between the liberal peace agenda and its criticism. This opens the discussion for a need maybe to
non-liberal model of peacebuilding or to take into consideration other alternatives and models of
peacebuilding. Although the growing criticism to improve the UN and other international actors’
assistance in peacebuilding, the basic assumption of the liberal peace is not challenged and
potential alternatives are overlooked (Pugh, 2005).
21
How the Theoretical Framework will be Applied?
The result of what has been discussed so far is that the basis of contemporary practice of
peacebuilding is liberal peace. In order to answer the research questions, this research will be
conducted through examining the following criteria as theoretical lenses derived from the
theoretical framework: The criteria of the liberal agenda are the rationale of donor’s strategies in
post-conflict peacebuilding in Iraq. Therefore, this research will examine how these criteria have
been applied in the case of Iraq and what implications they have.
1- Liberal democracy is supposed to lead to:
- Enhancing political liberties and democratic rule.
- People of the country have the freedom to express a variety of opinions, and form or
participate in any political group.
- Each individual is entitled to participate in the government directly or through
representatives.
2- Liberal economy is supposed to lead to:
- Trade liberalization and increasing inflows of foreign direct investment that would
stimulate economic growth.
- Reduction of the role of the state, redirection of public expenditure priorities and
privatization would offer high economic returns and the potential to improve income
distribution.
2-2 Review of existing literature
This sub-chapter is divided into two sections. The first section deals with the existing literature
on peace conditionality. The second section deals with the existing literature on statebuilding
policy in situations of conflict and fragility, based on the policy guidance of the OECD.
22
Peace conditionality
Boyce, in his (2002|) article, Aid Conditionality as a Tool for Peacebuilding: Opportunities and
Constraints defines peace conditionality as “the use of formal performance criteria and informal
policy dialogue to encourage the implementation of peace accords and the consolidation of
peace.” (Boyce, 2002, p.1025). The core idea of peace conditionality is: since not all actors are
committed to consolidate peace, the use of incentives and disincentives would strengthen the
peace process (ibid). According to Boyce, peace conditionality has political repercussions, and
could play positive or negative roles. On the one hand, appropriate aid could be an effective tool
for building peace. On the other hand, inappropriate aid could fuel conflict by deepening political
and economic rifts (ibid). The ultimate impact of peace conditionality, according to the author,
depends on if peace consolidation is really the fundamental objective of donors, and the way aid
serves this objective as well as the conflicting interests in both sides, donors and recipients.
“why should donors spend money to serve the interests of aid recipients,
rather than spending it to advance their own interests? In discussions of aid
to collapsed states and war-torn societies, it is often assumed that donors are
motivated by `good intentions', their decisions guided by sheer altruism or
enlightened self-interest. Yet, there are diverse actors with multiple
objectives on the donor side as well as the recipient side, and peacebuilding
is not always the overriding aim. To assess the scope for effective peace-
building assistance, we must jettison the assumption that the obstacles lie
entirely on the recipient side, and recognize that the policies and practices of
aid donors can be part of the problem as well as part of the solution”
(Boyce, 2002, p.1026).
Moreover, Boyce claims that aid is not delivered to the country as a united entity, but instead to
groups and individuals within the country, which affects the balance of power. Furthermore,
donors are reluctant to acknowledge the political repercussions of their aid, especially the
international financial institutions (IFIs). For example, the Articles of Agreement of the World
23
Bank stated that the bank should make loans with attention to the economic effects without
regard to the political or non-economic considerations (Boyce, 2002).
According to Boyce, building peace is not necessarily the dominant interest of donors. Yet,
geopolitical aims, economic interests and refugee repatriation are among their objectives (Boyce,
2002). In order to avoid the tradeoff, which may arise between donors’ objectives in the short
run, Boyce suggests the “smart aid” approach. This approach means that donors must apply
peace conditionality to the aid which is more beneficial to political elites than vulnerable
populations (ibid).
Olsson and Wohlgemuth (2003) present another definition of conditionality, which is “action
required of the recipient government in order to receive assistance” (Olsson and Wohlgemuth,
2003, p.10). They distinguish between four categories of conditionality:
●Legal obligations: conditions aligned with legal requirements of donor governments.
● Shared values and commitments: conditions related to poverty and human rights.
● Technically based conditions in projects and programs.
● Behavioral modification to motivate recipient government to undertake specific reforms.
Furthermore, Olsson and Wohlgemuth emphasis the importance of policy dialogue between
donors and recipient government. This dialogue would enhance the mutual understanding
between the two parties. This allows donors to understand the intentions of the recipient
government, thus intervene more effectively. In doing this, the recipient country would engage
more positively in development cooperation and enhance efficient utilization of aid. According
to the authors donors can engage in policy dialogue in several ways and forums (Olsson and
Wohlgemuth, 2003).
Concerning the successful implementation of peace conditionality, Ehrenfeld, Kogut and Hove
in their (2003) article highlight three factors. These factors include, adequate understanding of
the political situation on the ground, good cooperation between donors as well as willingness to
use threats and rewards in appropriate ways in order to enhance credibility (Ehrenfeld, Kogut
and Hove, 2003). Another definition of peace conditionality is outlined in this article as “The use
24
of formal performance criteria, and/or informal policy dialogue to encourage the implementation
of high-priority peace programs, and the mobilization of domestic resources to this purpose”
(Ehrenfeld, Kogut and Hove, 2003, p.60). However, the conditional aid according to the authors
in this article, is not only about capital, but also includes institutional development; strengthening
justice and security; and technical assistance (ibid).
Although, the objective of peace conditionality in this article is to consolidate peace. The authors
point out that political ideologies of donors as well as their interests may push conditionality to
be a kind of blackmail or coercion (Ehrenfeld, Kogut and Hove, 2003). Moreover, the actors who
often apply aid conditionality are the international financial institutions as well as the bilateral
donors. Also, the imposition of conditionality could take three strategies: persuasion, support and
pressure. Otherwise, aid should be withheld if the conditions are not fulfilled (ibid).
Ehrenfeld et al conclude their article after drawing on three case studies, by emphasizing the
importance of donors’ coordination as an essential element for successful aid. Donors’
coordination to implement and monitor aid is considered difficult because of communication and
bureaucratic complexities (Ehrenfeld, Kogut and Hove, 2003). In addition, authors state that,
peace conditionality has limits to what it can induce. They recommend to apply conditionality in
conjunction with other measures in order to encourage parties in conflicts to consolidate peace.
Coming back to Boyce, in his article 2002 Unpacking Aid he raises the issue of “credit
forgiveness”. Aid, which is provided in the form of loans, in many cases turned to be capital
flight and cumulative private external assets financed by external borrowing (ibid). For example,
in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1970-96 period, almost 70 cents of every dollar flowed into the
region as loan, flowed back out as capital flight (Boyce, 2002). Hence, the author suggests that
donors should forgive the recipient country for that portion of loans, which the public had no
benefits from it. Yet, the public who should reject the liability for this portion of aid, which are
delivered in inappropriate way (ibid).
Statebuilding policy in Situations of Conflict and Fragility
There is a rich amount of reports presented by the international institutions and organizations
about peacebuilding in situations of conflict and fragility. Here, I will present one of the most
25
important reports in this respect, which is done by the OECD, the Policy Guidance: “Supporting
Statebuilding in Situations of Conflict and Fragility” (2011). This report was based on a
collaborative effort by members of The Development Co-operation Directorate (DCD) as well as
other concerned stakeholders. The fundamental objective of this guide is to review and reorient
the international engagement in situations of conflict and fragility. It provides a milestone for
development actors to improve their strategies, programs and their operations in this field. The
violent conflict and fragile states are one of the today’s many challenges that face our world
toward achieving the development goals (OECD, 2011). Several recommendations are given to
the development actors by this report in order to support statebuilding and strengthen state
engagement as effective state, which is a matter of development. This requires according to the
report to strengthen development agencies and work differently in this field.
The concept of statebuilding and peacebuilding according to the report are not the same, but
they develop alongside with support from external actors included in the development
community. Fragile and conflict-affected state is the state which has insufficient governance over
its population and territory, and weak capacity to build effective relations with the society. Thus,
statebuilding could be understood foremost as improvements in the relation between state and
society. It is a political process that exists within a regional and global policy context. Also, it is
an internal process, operate within the domestic polity, therefore there are always limits to the
effectiveness of external interventions (OECD,2011).
The concept of statebuilding includes three crucial dimensions. First, the political settlement,
which means a consensus between the elites about power distribution, and about the political
channels between the state and the society. Second, the capacity of the state to fulfill its key
services, and third the presence of active society, which has the capacity to identify its
expectations from the state, and to express its demands. From these three dimensions, the
legitimacy of the state emerges, which could differ according to the domestic specificity, and this
should be taken into consideration by external interventions efforts (OECD, 2011).
The guide represents recommendations around the following five priority areas for development
partners, governments and the international community in order to improve their support for
statebuilding in fragile and conflict-affected situations.
26
1- Making strategic choices: First of all, development partner involved in statebuilding process
should reorient their strategies as well as their objectives, in order to achieve that the following
steps should be taken into consideration. The report emphasizes that statebuilding in an
endogenous process, therefore it is important to understand the local context and dynamics. In-
depth analysis should be done about the political, historical, cultural, economic, institutional and
social context as well as understanding how these factors are shaping the local actors and figure
out the opportunities for statebuilding. In defining the objectives, the interests of local and
regional interests, the available resources as well as the potential limitations should be borne in
mind. In addition, answering the questions of who to work with and where to work is very
important in relation with context analysis to identify whether to work with state or non-state
actors and how to allocate the resources. Another crucial dimension in this regard is to recognize
the global and regional dimensions of statebuilding (OECD, 2011).
2- Moving from strategic choices to country program design: the report recommends that
donors should design and deliver statebuilding programs in a way compatible with the fragile
context, and it should be done in coordination with the state and the other key partners in order to
identify the priorities. Also, to design integrated intervention, in order to strengthen state-society
relations (ibid).
3- Tools for analysis and monitoring: The report invites development partners to use and
develop range of analytical tools aimed at understanding the causes of violent conflict and
prospects of peacebuilding, and to better understand political context and process effective. This
includes, analysing the current strengths and opportunities, and not only focusing on assessing
problems. Particularly, identifying institutional strengths, which exist even in the most fragile
contexts. Also, to use and develop tools aimed to monitor and evaluate interventions, to assess
their impact on statebuilding. There are different tools available, but need to be developed
according to the appropriate analysis of the context (ibid).
27
4- Aid delivery modalities and technical assistance The report discusses that the modalities of
aid and technical assistance delivery affect the peacebuilding process. Therefore, those
modalities should be compatible with statebuilding objectives (ibid).
5- Development partner operations The report invites the development partners to strengthen
their own capacity, internal organizational incentives and field presence. Since, their behavior
affects their legitimacy in the eyes of the local population. Also, to manage the risks of operating
in fragile and conflict-affected situations; create incentives for collaboration and review
procedures and regulations in the light of statebuilding objectives. This would provide effective
support to statebuilding in fragile and conflict-affected situations (ibid).
Chapter Three-Methodology Framework
The following section gives an overview of how the theoretical framework will be applied. Also,
the research methods used in the present study, the selection of data and the reasoning behind
the sources will be explained.
3-1 Research Design
This research is a qualitative study, which means the research strategy “emphasizes words rather
than quantification in the collection and analysis of data.” (Bryman, 2016, p.375). Creswell
(2009) says that qualitative research shares the following characteristics: The data are collected
by the researchers themselves through three different ways: examining documents, observing and
interviewing participants; the researcher reviews the data and organize it into themes in order to
make sense of it; the themes are built from bottom up, as the researcher develops the issue under
study by identifying the factors involved in order to generate a larger picture; qualitative
researcher often uses theoretical lens to conduct the study.
According to Mikkelsen (2005), qualitative research is dominant in development studies. It is
widely known that qualitative research is privileged across a range of disciplines, which relied
upon study of human behavior. Bryman (2016) further says that qualitative research deals with
the social properties as outcomes of the interaction between individuals, and not as separate
28
phenomena. By doing this, the researcher is able to examine the phenomena from all
perspectives, in order to conduct meaningful research. This is a qualitative desk study, which
means the primary data will be collected from official documents, reports etc. Also this research
does not include field work.
The research objective is to collect and present detailed information about donors’ conditionality
in post conflict peacebuilding in Iraq, in order to examine its impact. In this sense, the research
design is qualitative case study. According to Bryman (2016, p. 60) “the basic case study entails
the detailed and intensive analysis of a single case.” A case study looks intensely at specific
group of participants, and drawing conclusions only about those participants in that specific
context. This is the most appropriate research design for this study since the research is carried
out in a single location, and it associates with intensive examination of the case identified. A case
study is focused, provides precise feedback, which could provide satisfactory answers to the
research questions. By studying a specific case, one can get a deep understanding of the focus of
study in a real life context as Yin (2014, p16) says, case study is an “empirical inquiry that
investigates a contemporary phenomenon (the case) in depth and within its real world context,
especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context may not be clearly evident.”
There are five types of case studies according to Yin (2009), and the identified case is a
representative or typical case, as it illustrates the conditions of commonplace situations.
According to Bryman (2016) the representative case exemplifies a broader category of cases.
The country of Iraq has been chosen as a case in this research as it can epitomize to some extent
other contemporary war-torn societies, and provide answers to the questions of donors’
conditionality impact in peacebuilding efforts. Creswell (2009) says that case study is a strategy
in which the researcher examines in depth a process, which is bounded by time and activity.
3-2 Research Logic
Abductive reasoning is applied in this study, as it aims at understanding the phenomenon through
theoretical lenses (Bryman, 2016). Bryman further says that with abduction the researcher relies
on a theoretical understanding of the context, in addition to understanding the perspectives of
people who provided the data. This means as (Robson, 2011) explains that abductive approach
29
allows for the use of theory and observations parallel, in order to make conclusions from the
given data. The interpretations, analyses and the conclusion of this research are based on liberal
peace theory. Also, according to Walton (2004, p.34) “Abductive inference goes backward from
a given conclusion for the premises that conclusion was based on”. In the case of this study, I
assume that the identified theoretical framework, which is the liberal peace agenda provides the
preconditions which explain the conclusion. Abductive reasoning is also known as inference to
better explanation, by applying a new framework to an already known case in order to interpret
the given data (Danermark, 2002). Accordingly, this kind of reasoning matches this study, as it
will be based on criteria derived from the theoretical framework in order to find the results and
analyze it. The liberal peace agenda as privileged approach in the contemporary peacebuilding
efforts, provides an explanation for the rationale of donors’ strategies as well as the conditions
applied by the key donors and the international institutions.
3-3 Data selection
Identifying the selected data is something related to the research questions as well as the
theoretical framework of the research. The research is conducted through literature review using
primary and secondary sources. The primary sources include official documents and reports.
While, the secondary sources include articles and books, which take post-conflict peacebuilding
as an area of research. Although there is a huge amount of academic articles, reports and books
analysing post-conflict peacebuilding in Iraq, only a small amount of it take donors’
conditionality as an area of research. Hence, in order to answer my research questions, the
required data will be extracted from the available sources about the identified case if needed. The
required data for this study will be collected from peer reviewed online articles and books on
electronic databases such as (One Search, Ebrary and JSTOR). Google search, including Google
Scholar, is used to get directly to other sources such as reports and figures. Also, the databases of
the World Bank, UNDP, OECD will be used to collect the required figures.
The assessment of donors’ intentions and strategies is primarily based on criteria derived from
liberal peace theory, and statements made by donors in the major donor conferences about Iraq’s
reconstruction, academic articles, books as well as the official documents. Liberal peace theory
constitutes the underlying framework of the contemporary post-conflict peacebuilding efforts.
30
Therefore, to understand what liberal peace theory means, this research primarily draws on the
works of Richmond, Paris, McGinty and Pugh. Those authors provide both explanation and
critical perspectives of the liberal peace theory. In addition, to clarify the concept of peace
conditionality, the research primarily draws on the work of Boyce (2002).
The assessment of donors’ actions is based on academic articles, books and reports run by key
donors’ governments and the international financial institution such as IMF, the World Bank and
OECD. Some reports provide relevant data and information about what key donors as well as the
international agencies have done until now in Iraq within peacebuilding operations. As example
of those reports this research will draw on the reports produced by the Special Inspector General
for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), Stuart Bowen. Those reports provide detailed data about
donors’ action in Iraq. The Office of SIGIR was created in October 2004 by the Congress as
successor to the Coalition Provisional Authority Office of Inspector General, and served until its
closure in October 2013. The mission of SIGIR was to provide oversight of U.S.-funded Iraq
reconstruction operations through comprehensive audits, inspections, and investigations (SIGIR,
2013). The publications of the United Nations are also relevant in this study, since the UN is one
of the key donors in carrying out development projects in Iraq.
In this research, materials from formal structures about post-conflict peacebuilding and donors’
conditionality in Iraq are used to collect data and analyses it. It can be said that a rich literature
exists about the liberal peace theory, post-conflict peacebuilding in Iraq, as well as literature on
donor actions and policy reform. Also there is a variety of case studies from war affected
countries (e.g. Iraq, Afghanistan and Cambodia), which are useful due to the similar
peacebuilding framework of the liberal peace. The research will investigate the links between
peacebuilding and aid conditionality in the case study of Iraq.
3-4 Data Analyses methods
The data will be analyzed according to the qualitative data analysis methods. The difficulties
with qualitative research as Bryman (2016) says that, although it generates a large number of
data, it is hard to find analytical path through its richness. Hence, the following approaches to
qualitative data analyses will be used in this research:
31
Coding: In order to analyze the collected data, coding will be used as qualitative data analyses
approach. The starting point of coding is to read through the materials to become initially
acquainted with it, and jot down general notes. The second step is to read through the documents
again and generate codes as many as possible as themes associated with the data (Bryman,
2016). The codes then should be reviewed and connected to concepts and categories by figuring
out the common elements of the different codes (ibid). Each code captures a distinct idea and
helps to interpret and theorize it in relation to the given theoretical framework. By doing this, the
researcher will be able to organize the data in order to achieve a meaningful interpretation of it.
Thematic Analyses: Thematic approach to qualitative data analyses will be used also in this
research. That means, the research questions will be transformed into themes, under which other
sub-themes are found (Bryman, 2016). This makes data grouping easier, which could enhance
interpretation leading to meaningful analysis of the research findings. This approach helps the
researcher to keep track on the research questions and the information (ibid). Thematic analysis
is suitable for the exploratory attempt to better understand a phenomenon and answer research
questions associated with people’s experience or people’s views (Braun & Clarke, 2006).
In this study the identification of themes has to be related to the research objective and research
questions of the study. In order to answer the research question, the research follows this
technique, resulting in abductive coding. These methods would provide the methodological tools
to collect and analyze the collected data of donor’s conditions in post-conflict peacebuilding in
order to judge the legitimacy and the validity of those conditions.
3-5 Limitations and Delimitations
In terms of limitations and delimitations, this study does not include field work, accordingly
there is no interaction with the stakeholder on the ground. In this sense, the research does not
guarantee the credibility of the used data. Another limitation could be a challenge in this research
is the neutrality, as most of the data used in this research are published by the international
financial institution and the governments who are themselves the donors of Iraq. On the other
hand, there is a limitation regarding the lack of data available in Arabic, the official language of
Iraq, about the topic, (taking into consideration that Arabic is the mother language of the
32
researcher). I believe that this issue is a major limitation as the research does not include
adequately the Iraqis’ point of view about the topic. In this regard the high level of corruption in
Iraq is a limitation to use the available Iraqi official data. Additionally, the lack of researches
concerned specifically about donors’ conditionality in post-conflict peacebuilding in Iraq is a
limitation for this research. This research is limited to the date of May/2016 when I stopped
collecting data.
3-6 Validity and Reliability
According to Bryman (2016), validity and reliability are tools to measure the quality of
qualitative research. The validity and reliability of research could be achieved “according to
certain methodological and disciplinary conventions and principles.” (Bryman, 2016, p.383).
Creswell (2009) discusses that researcher achieve qualitative validity by checking the accuracy
of the presented finding. While, qualitative reliability could be achieved by documenting the
procedures of the case study, in order to ensure that the research is consistent across different
researches. He recommends to mention the research procedures as much as possible. For a
research to be valid and reliable, the research conclusion should be reached through the research
design proposed (ibid). Bryman (2016) distinguishes between internal validity and external
validity. The external validity of qualitative research concerns the matter of generalizability, the
degree to which the results of the study can be generalized beyond the specific case. In this sense
external qualitative researches suffer from low external validity, as researchers tend to search
case studies (Bryman, 2016). The results of this research can be generalized beyond Iraq to some
extent as peacebuilding efforts after the Cold War include the similar liberal peace agenda. But
the context remains different in every country and in every period of time
Chapter Four- Presentation and Analyses of Research Results
This chapter will present and analyses the key findings. Analysis will be done by discussing and
relating the findings to the theoretical framework. The research questions will be answered in
this chapter drawing on the criteria presented in the analytical framework. First, I will present
background information about Iraq. Then move on to present donors’ strategies and analyse its
impact according to two themes: political transition and economic transition.
33
4-1 Background
Iraq is a country in Western Asia. It is distinct from the other countries in the region by diverse
and abundant resources. The resources include, vast areas of arable land, abundant water and oil.
Also, in Iraq there is a diversity in the ethnic and religious groups. The country had advanced
economic and social indicators, compared with the neighboring countries, in the 70th
and the
early of 80th
. In the 80th
the oil revenue was more than US$8 billion per year, the GDP in 1980
was $40 billion, when the population were only 13.25 million (Maamouri, 2007). Moreover, in
that period the level of the educated people was high, and the production base was diverse,
particularly in the agriculture sector (ibid).
From this level these indicators have constantly dropped. Iraq has faced severe challenges, in
spite of the abundant resources. This could be attributed to internal as well as external factors.
Iraq experienced two wars in two decades, the Iran-Iraq war, the Kuwait-Iraq war, as well as the
US-led invasion in 2003. In addition, Iraq experienced prolonged international economic
sanctions, and comprehensive commercial and financial restrictions imposed on Iraq for about 13
years, which restricted Iraqi oil exports. Another important factor is the Oil-for-Food Programme
(OIP) which was introduced as a sanction program that should allow for less pressure on the
poor. This program established by the United Nations in 1995 to allow Iraq sell oil to the world
market only in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian needs of Iraqi citizens (UN,
2016). It was considered a precedent in the modern history. But it did not manage to meet the
basic needs of people. When this program was applied in the period 1997-2002 the Iraqi annual
oil revenue was less than $120 per capita after the deductions for the compensation and financial
commitments to the UN (Maamouri, 2007). On the other hand, Iraq had experienced one-rule
party for about 40 years. The Baath party ruled Iraq from 1963 to 2003 and Saddam Hussein was
the president of Iraq from 1973 to 2003. Therefore, the country faced a lack of political freedom,
lack of rule of law and high level of corruption for a long time. Baath Party’s rule ended by the
US-led invasion in 2003. The invasion continued until 2011 when the military forces started to
withdraw, but military bases are still present there.
Today, Iraq is again facing pressing challenges, due to the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria)
attacks and the decline in oil prices (World Bank, 2016). The government needs resources to
34
reconstruct infrastructure and improve the delivery of public services in the liberated areas from
ISIS. Furthermore, ISIS attacks have led to massive internal displacement (UNDP, 2014). Over
1.8 million people have been displaced since January 2014, and Iraq now is considered one of
the largest Internally Displaced Population in the world (ibid).
According to the World Bank (2016), the population remains extremely vulnerable to the
ongoing economic and security problems. The latest statistics from the bank show that 20,035
civilians were killed in Iraq in 2014, the highest number since 2007; poverty levels increased and
now stand at 22.5% of the population; the number of people living below the poverty line were
estimated as 2.8 million by end-2014; oil export revenues declined by US$40 billion and
unemployment rate in 2014 was 16.4% of total labor force (ibid). Iraq is still considered to be an
upper-middle-income country, as the GDP per capita was estimated at US$6,147 in 2014 (ibid).
Table (1): shows Iraq’s GDP growth before the 2003 invasion and after as well as the
contribution of agriculture, industry and services sectors to the added value. Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) is the most common measure used to determine the economic performance, and
to compare economic activity within and among counties.
2000 2002 2003 2007 2013 2014
GDP Growth 1.4 -6.9 -33.1 1.4 6.6 -2.1
Industry, value added 2.2 -12.1 -38.6 7.1 8.1 1.1
Services, value added 9.0 -1.9 -33.1 -0.1 3.2 -7.6
Agriculture, value added -11.6 17.0 -29.1 -27.7 12.2 -8.6
Table (1) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Iraq
Source: World Bank (2016)
35
As Iraq has estimated reserves of 11 percent of the world’s oil supply, the Iraqi GDP is
influenced largely by oil production. Oil accounted for 95 percent of foreign currency earnings
and most of Iraq's GDP comes from oil (Stradiotto, 2004). Hence, Iraq’s budget is highly
vulnerable to fluctuations in the world market price of oil. When the Coalition Provisional
Authority (CPA) ruled in 2003 as a transnational government was established after the invasion
by the US and the other countries formed the coalition, it had control over Iraq’s oil through
production sharing agreement (PSAs). The agreement allowed private companies to negotiate
long-term contracts, while the government was forbidden from controlling oil production and
development (Lacher, 2007). The United States had the highest stake in Iraq’s oil industry. This
was justified by the welfare and political stability requirements of the country and the Iraqi
government’s shortage of funds (ibid). In 2012, 80% of food’s needs were met by imports
(SIGIR, 2013). Also the state of Iraq imported 3 million tons of wheat to meet the demand, and
30% of the Iraq’s wheat-growing area remained without irrigation, (ibid).
Security and economic conditions in Iraq impacted private sector consumption and investment,
and limited government spending on investment projects (World Bank, 2016). The battles to
liberate the Iraqi cities from ISIS by the joint forces of the Iraqi army and the popular forces are
still ongoing. Iraq continues to witness bombings between civilians lead to massive casualties.
As a result, Iraqi people are more disillusioned about their politicians than ever before. Recently,
popular protests have emerged calling the Iraqi government to radical changes. The government
is trying to find new solutions and actions for the sake of change. But obviously those actions are
still insufficient, which might lead to more social unrest.
Human Development Indicators
Iraq is ranked 121th out of 188 countries on the 2014 UNDP Human Development Index (HDI).
This index measures average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development—a
long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living (UNDP, 2015). The index
presents the following indicators about Iraq: an Iraqi born in 2014 could expect to live 69.4
years; gross national income (GNI) per capita is 14,003.2$; exports and imports 66.7% of GDP;
the population stands at approximately 34 million; 71% of Iraqis live in urban areas; Iraq is one
of the most youthful countries in the world- nearly 50% of the population is less than 19 years
36
Unemployment rate
old; while accounting for 65% of Iraq’s GDP the oil sector currently employs only 1% of the
total labor force. (ibid).
Figure 2: Iraq’s social indicators
Source: United Nation Development program (UNDP) 2014 and World Bank 2016.
4-2 The Pledges of Donors
In October 2003 an international conference held in Madrid ended with US$13 in pledges to
rebuild Iraq over several years, in addition to US$20 billion already promised by the USA
(Kapp, 2003). The total pledges were US$33 billion in grants and loans, the most in the form of
loans (ibid). The main donor was USA with almost two-thirds followed by World Bank,
International Monetary Fund, European Union, and Japan. Many countries, such as Egypt and
Iran donates products or services instead of money. In addition, countries including Germany,
France and Russia have promised to cooperate with the US-led effort to reduce Iraq's large debt
burden (Pan, 2003). Donors have the choice to channel their fund either bilaterally or through a
multidonor trust fund facility for Iraq which will be managed by the World Bank and United
Nations (World Bank, 2004). Moreover, the International Advisory and Monitoring Board
(IAMB) of the Development Fund for Iraq was established in 2003 pursuant to the Security
Council resolution 1483, which lifted the sanctions on Iraq and terminated the UN Oil-for-Food
Program, in order to meet the humanitarian and the reconstruction needs of Iraqi people. The
World Bank appointed representatives in this board, which was an audit oversight body for the
Iraqis live on less than US$ 2.2 a day
youth (15-24 years) are unemployed
Iraqis identify addressing poverty as the most pressing
23%
16%
18%
75%
37
Development Fund for Iraq (DFI) aimed to hold the proceeds of petroleum export sales (IAMB,
nd). The purpose of IAMB was to guarantee that those proceeds will be used in a transparent
manner to benefit the people of Iraq. Also, that the export sales of petroleum, petroleum products
and natural gas are made consistently with prevailing international market best practices (ibid).
The assessment of Iraq reconstruction needs was undertaken primarily by the United Nations
Development Group (UNDG) and the World Bank Group with assistance from the IMF in 2003.
The Joint Iraq Needs Assessment, was also discussed with the Core Group on Iraq (the United
Arab Emirates, the United States, the European Union and Japan), the purpose was to inform the
donors in Madrid conference about the estimated needs (World Bank, 2004). The estimation was
$56 billion in 2003, covers fourteen priority sectors (Kapp, 2003). This assessment agreed
among the international community at the Technical Reconstruction Meeting in New York on
June 24, 2003. In addition to experts from Iraq, the European Union, the European Commission,
Japan, and Australia. Also, with significant inputs from several NGOs and the Coalition
Provisional Authority (CPA). The purpose was to inform the donor conference in Madrid about
the reconstruction needs and address the priorities, focusing on both urgent and medium-term
(World Bank, 2004).
The World Bank/UN cumulative Iraq reconstruction needs by sector (In US$ millions)
Sector 2004 2005-2007 Total
Local administration, rule of law and civil
society
101 212 313
Health, education, employment 1.880 5.310 7.190
Education: primary, secondary, high 1.005 3.800 4.805
38
health 500 1.100 1.600
Employment 375 410 785
Infrastructure 5.836 18.368 24.204
Transport & telecommunication 1.043 2.366 3.409
Water, sanitation, solid waste 1.881 4.961 6.842
Electricity 2.377 9.745 12.122
Urban management 110 303 413
Housing and land management 425 993 1.418
Agriculture and water resources 1.230 1.797 3.027
Investment in agriculture 1.230 1.197 3.027
Private sector development 145 476 621
State-owned enterprises 30 170 200
Financial sector 71 10 81
Investment climate 44 296 340
39
Mine action 80 154 234
Total 9.272 26.317 35.589
CPA estimated by sector not covered by the UN/World Bank
Security and police 5,000 0 5,000
Oil 2,000 6,000 8,000
Culture 140 800 940
Environment 500 3,000 3,500
Human rights 200 600 800
Foreign affairs 100 100 200
Religious affairs 100 200 300
Science & technology 100 300 400
Youth & sport 100 200 300
total 8,240 11,200 19,440
40
Table (2) The estimation of Iraq reconstruction needs.
Source: World Bank (2004)
4-3 Political transition
From 2005 until the present, Iraq has remained in the top of the World’s Failed States Index
according to the annual lists published by the Fund for Peace and Foreign Policy magazine (FFB,
2016). Furthermore, in 2015 Iraq’s rank in the Corruption Perceptions Index was 161 out of 168
countries, which indicates high level of public sector corruption (Transparency International,
2015).
The current political framework of Iraq is a federal parliamentary representative democratic
republic (IRFAD, 2014). “It is a multi-party system in which the executive power is exercised by
the Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers as the head of government, as well as the
President of Iraq, and legislative power is vested in the Council of Representatives and the
Federation Council” (ibid). The current Prime Minister of Iraq is Haider al-Abadi. There are over
31 political parties of which many are smaller tribal parties. The main parties that now makeup
the Council of Representatives include: Iraqi National Movement, State of Law Coalition, Iraqi
National Alliance, Kurdistan Alliance (ibid).
The following sections will discuss the major strategies had been implemented in Iraq since 2003
in order to achieve the political transition. Those strategies formed the foundations for the
emergence of the current political system. Therefore, it is worthwhile to go back in order to
determine the weak foundations.
The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)
In the aftermath of US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA)
governed Iraq on behalf of the coalition of Willing which refers to the group of allied countries
in the military intervention, from May 2003 until its dissolution on 28 June 2004. CPA as a
transitional government, was established to undertake the transnational administration, after the
ouster of Saddam Hussein government. The CPA, restored the order in the country to some
41
extent. In order to achieve transition, the CPA’s foremost concern was to uproot the entire
apparatus of the Iraqi state (Hassin and Isakhan, 2016). This happened through a process of de-
Baathification and dissolution of the former army and the security apparatus (ibid). This process
put about 400,000 Iraqis out of work (Lacher, 2007). The argument for that was to prevent the
members of the former regime from undermining the state-building efforts (ibid). However, the
CPA ignored the complex legacy of the previous regime and Baath party, which ruled Iraq for 40
years, and also the fact that Iraq had just emerged from a military battle, and was facing
challenges of lawlessness and chaos (Hassin and Isakhan, 2016). The major reason for that was
that the US as leader of “Coalition of the Willing” dominated not only the military intervention
but also the post-conflict reconstruction and development operations (ibid). According to Hassin
and Isakhan (2016), the military campaign was designed to destroy the apparatus of the “quasi-
socialist Saddam Hussein” and replace it with pillars of a new era of free-market capitalism and
liberal democracy. This should be seen coupled with the fact that as a result of the war, the basic
public infrastructure was already destroyed as well as a high number of civilian casualties.
The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC)
In 2003, the CPA in corporation with the UN set up the Iraqi Governing Council IGC. ICG was
the provisional government of Iraq from July 13, 2003 to June 1, 2004. The member of IGC were
chosen on the basis of their ethnic and religious affiliations (Lacher,2007). According to Lacher
(2007) the criteria to form this government, was one of the coalition’s actions which has
strengthened the sectarian structures of the political system in Iraq. Later on and due to a
growing insurgency, there was a decision to transfer the sovereignty to Iraqis no later than 2004.
Therefore, a transnational government was elected through indirect election. The criteria to
choose the members was specified. Including members from IGC, in addition to those who were
excluded from the political process before, but closely linked to the United States. The
government included also representative of the major Kurdish and Shia parties as well as
representatives of the Sunni opposition who were close to the US (ibid).
42
National conference in transitional period
National conferences as well as roundtables are usually held with representatives from different
political and ethnic groups to manage post-authoritarian transition in order to establish a plan for
the future of the country (Papagianni, 2006). The transitional framework of Iraq was orchestrated
by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC)
(ibid). As a part of this framework, the Iraqi national conference (2004) was held in Baghdad in
order to select the members of a 100-seat National Council which should serve as Iraq’s interim
legislature until elections in January 2005. Representatives of Iraq’s political parties, regions,
tribes, universities, women’s groups, and other civil society organizations attended the
conference (Otterman, 2004). In 2004 the IGC adopted Iraq’s interim constitution as well as the
Transitional Administrative Law (TAL). The election of National Assembly would take place no
later than 2005, the Assembly was supposed to draft the permanent constitution of the country no
later than 2005 too. However, the conference failed to achieve a consensus on the transitional
period. The failure was attributed to many reasons, one of it, the disagreement between the
participants about the presence of foreign troops as well as the appointment of the Interim
Government. The transitional framework was contested particularly by the actors who were not
included in the transitional process (Papagianni, 2006). They objected to the appointment of the
Interim Government as well as drafting the constitution under the presence of an occupying
power. Those actors hadn’t been consulted about the transitional period agenda and how the
conference should have been a part of it before the conference. Moreover, the political body of
the transition period hadn’t enough legitimacy in the eyes of people. In 2003, IGC was appointed
by US and the CPA, then reappointed as Iraqi Interim Government IIG. While, a few political
groups out of the IGC were consulted about the transition framework. Yet, the 25 members of
the ICG had limited power, as they had to consult the CPA on all major decisions and setting the
policy. In addition, most of the ICG members were exiles and predominantly didn’t have a
domestic constituency. It can be said that only the actors who were supporting the US invasion,
were involved in the political process during the transitional period. All these reasons
undermined the transparency as well as the legitimacy to formulate a successful plan which
could lead the country toward democracy and stabilization. The conference wasn’t society-
mobilizing as opposition and civil society were unable to effectively participate with lack of
43
information about the conference. There was a lack of consensus between the main stakeholders
about basic principles, hence lack of inclusive consultation (ibid).
Constitution-making
“Together with the interim Iraq constitution perhaps the most striking example of external
imposition has been in Kosovo “. (Pugh, 2005, p.26)
It is an established fact that the process of drafting the constitution in Iraq had been done under
external intervention. The situation in which there was a lack of consensus between the political
elites about the presence of foreign military forces. As a result, many of the political elite
decided to boycott the political process, including the drafting of the constitution (Dann and Al-
Ali, 2006).
The current constitution of Iraq was approved by a referendum that took place on 15 October
2005. The constitutional process began in 2003 immediately after the invasion and took place in
two stages. Between 2003 and 2004, the Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the
Transitional Period (TAL) was drafted mostly by the CPA, but in collaboration with the Iraqi
appointed actors in IGC (Benomar, 2004). This law was the framework for drafting the
permanent constitution in 2005. The constitution was actually drafted in 2005 by members of the
Iraqi Constitution Drafting Committee and ended with the referendum (Dann and Al-Ali, 2006).
The CPA had direct and indirect influence over the constitutional process (ibid). As examples of
that influence, TAL’s bill of right articulates rights as if they are absolute, thereby mimicking the
US bill of rights, and the experts from the UN provided comments to the drafts which led to
changes in the constitution (Dann and Al-Ali, 2006). On the other hand, the constitution draft
contained a section on economic-socio rights aligned with the Islamic norms, which created a
kind of semi-independent drafting process. Nevertheless, it was hard for many Iraqis to accept
the interim constitution which is partly drafted and officially approved by their occupiers
(Benomar, 2004).
One can conclude that, there was major direct and indirect interventions in the constitutional
process. The CPA’s strategy was to appoint a committee that is responsible of constitutional
44
drafting rather than holding democratic election. Also, the external actors determined the
constitutional framework in order to protect their interests.
Democracy Between Theory and Practice
Donors’ strategy in formation of the political structures in the transitional period, aimed at
enhancing CPA control over the political process. Lacher (2007, p.243) also asserts this idea
saying “evolving strategies to create democratic state structures have consistently relied on the
promotion of US allies and the exclusion of its adversaries”. Moreover, the councils which had
been formed independently after the war, had been dissolved. Alongside, CPA formed the local
governance councils through private contractors. The selected members of those councils were
“the most appropriate and legitimate” members according to CPA. The members got financial
support as well as civic education and democracy training in order to enhance the neoliberal
reforms (Lacher, 2007). Based on this idea, it can be said that the local initiatives which emerged
after the collapse of the previous regime, as a form of self-rule after the absence of the rule of
law, had not been developed or taken into account. On the contrary, those initiative had been
marginalized. With reference to one of the most fundamental attributes of liberal democracy
(each individual is entitled to participate in the government directly or through representatives) it
is clear from what has been seen above that, each individual in Iraq in the transition period, was
not entitled to participate in the government directly or through representatives. Instead, the
sectarian affiliation and political loyalty to each individual determined whether the individual
was entitled to participate in the government or not.
In Post-conflict peacebuilding, government representatives in Iraq were legitimate in the eyes of
the coalition. They were selected in accordance with their loyalty to the international community
and to the US interests foremost. But not as a result of Iraqi citizens’ will. That was happening at
both, the local level as well as national level. In this regard, Iraq is not an exception, this strategy
had been applied before in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan (Lacher, 2007). This strategy of
including the allies or the “moderate” as main partners, and excluding the so called “radicals” or
“terrorists” from the political process, illustrates the contemporary international community’s
efforts in state-building. It could be said that this strategy carries the imposition of the external
actors’ interests above the local community needs (ibid).
45
It can be noted that, CPA drew heavily on previous experience of peace building projects after
the Second World War (Germany, Japan, Balkan and Afghanistan) (Hassin and Isakhan, 2016).
During post-conflict state building projects, and designing the new institutions and economics
model, little consideration was given to the political, cultural, economic and social context (ibid).
In addition, poor consultation or engagement of local communities, civil society or key
stakeholders were made. Regarding all this, one can conclude that the following three
problematic actions had been implemented within the political transition period:
1- The overlapping between the military occupying forces and the governing political forces in
the aftermath of the war which undermined the legitimacy of these forces among the Iraqis.
2- The domestic political actors involved in the political transition process had been chosen in
accordance with the external actor’s interests foremost and not according to the public will.
3- The local communities were not engaged or consulted adequately, and the domestic initiatives
were marginalized to large extent. This increased the lack of trust between people toward the
political structures in the country as a whole.
4-4 Economic transition
Iraq’s economy has experienced several changes within the last decades. The statist heavy-
handed economic policies in addition to 12 years of economic sanctions and two wars have
resulted in a significantly deteriorating economy. With the arrival of the coalition in 2003, the
plan was to transform Iraq into a free-market economy as a part of the liberal agenda. Therefore,
economic policy focused on pro-market reforms. Domestic and foreign private companies were
expected to play a major role in the economic transition. Also both foreign investment and aid-
financed reconstruction programs were expected to stimulate economic growth (Looney, 2006).
However, the ongoing conflict has been an obstacle for the investment inflows. Many scholars
attributed the economic problems after the war, to violence and insurgent attacks. The following
sections will present donors’ strategies to achieve economic transition.
46
Privatization and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs)
As the liberal peace model is privileged by donors in post-conflict peacebuilding and
development projects in Iraq, the key determinant of the economic agenda is free-market
economy orientation. Hence, the privatization of various state-run institutions as well as the
liberalization of foreign investment and fiscal system were important factors toward achieving
the desired orientation (Hassin and Isakhan, 2016). The objective of CPA was to convert the
Iraqi economy from centrally controlled into free and open market. In order to achieve that, a set
of reforms were introduced with the aim to promote the private business and determine the future
of the state-owned enterprises. Promoting the private business included reducing the restrictions
on capital investment and bureaucratic regulations. Determining the future of the state-owned
enterprises included privatization part of those enterprises, leasing of competitive SOEs and the
potential of selling the large one to the private sector (SIGIR, 2013).
The state-owned enterprises SOEs in Iraq met a wide range of people needs and provided jobs
for thousands of people under the sanction before 2003. According to the World Bank (2004),
the Iraqi SOEs comprised 90% of the industrial capacity and employed 500,000 of the country’s
roughly 4 million labor force. SOEs were the largest employers after the agricultural industry,
providing majority big part of the formal sector and non-farm jobs (World Bank, 2004). It is
worthy to take note of the fact that the Iraqi constitution prohibits the privatization of key state
assets and prevents foreigners from owning Iraqi firms (Bjork and Jones, 2005). However, in
order to solve this legal problem which was facing the CPA, a new order was issued. The order
(39) allows foreign firms to retain 100% ownership of Iraqi banks, mines and factories, and
allows these firms to move 100% of their profits out of Iraq (CAP, 2003). The purpose of this
order according to the CPA was to “promote and safeguard the general welfare and interests of
the Iraqi people by promoting foreign investment through the protection of the rights and
property of foreign investors in Iraq.” (ibid).
Moreover, the CPA phased out the subsidy programs which were providing basket of subsidized
food to every Iraqi (SIGIR, 2013). This policy was advocated by the international financial
institutions as a part of the structural adjustment reforms in order to redirect public expenditure.
An argument in uproot of this policy in Iraq was the replacement of those program with a
47
national trust fund fed by a percentage of the country’s oil revenues (ibid). This fund was
supposed to flow to Iraqi citizens either directly as cash payments or indirectly via government
programs (ibid). The CPA pursued several other policy initiatives in order to end tariffs and
liberalize the Iraqi transportation and telecom sectors, consistent with World Trade Organization
conditions (ibid).
The same report (SIGIR, 2013): Learning from Iraq reveals that the US did the following
actions in order to revitalize the SOEs:
1- In 2012, U.S. provided a $1 million grant to support a project that would value the assets of
SOEs toward possible privatization.
2- In 2007 and 2008 The US authorized $100 million to revitalize Iraq’s SOEs. This money went
to the Task Force for Business and Stability operations (TFBSO), which was established by the
Defense Department in 2006 to help revitalize Iraq’s economy.
3- Between 2007 and 2010, a total of $174 million in Iraq Freedom Fund money was
appropriated for the TFBSO.
According to the same report TFBSO allocated less than half of these funds for
reindustrialization projects before its dissolution in 2010. In 2012, a small number of SOEs had
become viable, they functioned much as a welfare programs, distributing paychecks to an
estimated 600,000 Iraqis on SOEs payrolls, many of whom perform no actual work (ibid).
During the invasion in 2003, SOEs were looted. And after the war SOEs have been abandoned in
favor of the private sector, thereby ending decades of public ownership and its legacy. This
strategy left behind a weak public sector unable to provide sufficient services. This coupled with
the security conditions had a great impact on private sector consumption and investment, and on
government spending on investment projects (World Bank, 2016). Post-conflict peacebuilding in
Iraq has also been criticized for the dominance use of international and primary US companies
instead of Iraqi contractors (Lacher, 2007). Bojicic-Dzelilovic in her article (2010) says that
privatization as a key element of reconstruction approach has been questioned by the World
48
Bank itself. She also demonstrated that “private companies are profit-seeker, and that is the
guiding principle in deciding on the locality of their operations” (Bojicic-Dzelilovic, 2010).
The role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
Before 2003 invasion, the presence of international NGOs was illegal with some exceptions,
under Iraqi law. After the invasion, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) solved the legal
problems of NGO registration by issuing new laws. It issued order 45 in 2003 providing methods
for registering NGOs. The order called all NGOs wishing to operate programs in Iraq to register
with the Ministry of Planning and Development Cooperation within 90 days (CPA, 2003). The
purpose was, as it is stated in the order, “to ensure the security of the Iraqi people and prevent the
misuse of non-governmental organizations for fraudulent or illegal purposes” (ibid). The
intention of this order was not only to simplify the legal regulations. But also, to control NGOs
as it might be used by insurgent groups for other purposes (Bolton and Jeffrey, 2008). Bolton
refers to this idea expressed by one NGO as follows “the major objective of the order was to
monitor the activity of NGOs . . . whose purposes and missions’ were counter or ‘hostile’ to the
CPA.” (ibid: p.596). Under the rule of Saddam Hussein’s government, about ten western NGOs
were operating in the country, and twenty INGOs were active in the area controlled by Kurdistan
Regional Government, autonomous from the Iraqi state (Genot, 2010). After the invasion
hundreds more arrived the country. By the end of 2004 most of the INGOs withdrew their staff
from Iraq, due to the security conditions. Some of INGOs settled in the neighboring country and
implemented their operations on the ground by Iraqi staff or partner organizations (ibid).
Today, the NGO Coordination Committee for Iraq (NCCI) is a member-led organization with 95
NGO members, and 6 observer NGOs, who are international and national organizations
operating in Iraq. NCCI was established in April 2003, by a group of NGOs present in Baghdad.
The NCCI’s mission is “to coordinate principled, collective NGO action in order to foster
development, address humanitarian needs, and promote respect for rights in Iraq.” (NCCI, nd).
In the beginning, membership was limited to international NGOs. In 2005 it opened up
membership to national NGOs as efforts to empower the Iraqi organizations (ibid). In the
aftermath of 2003 invasion, the INGOs were mostly engaged in emergency and short-term
responses, seeking to meet the humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable. Those needs range
49
from humanitarian protection, to the provision of basic services and supplies, shelter, clothing,
medical requirements, insurance, education and employment health, sport, relief, research,
citizen and human rights, women consultancy, (NCCI, 2006).
The NCCI’s 2010 study, which was conducted by Cecile Genot, followed Barak Obama
announcement in 2009 that the America’s combat mission in Iraq would come to an end by the
end of August 2010, by saying “We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people” (Genot,
2010). The withdrawal from Iraq was not only a military strategy. Donors were also decreasing
their financial support in favour of other countries (ibid). However, later on, most donors have
resumed funding in response to the humanitarian crisis followed continued internal struggles and
in particular ISIS attacks in 2014. According to the study, Iraq at that time did not have the
capacities yet to become politically and economically autonomous, in addition to the remaining
humanitarian gaps. Democracy was ineffective and people were disillusioned about their
politicians. Also the state was unable to provide basic public services, and increasingly
abandoning numerous sectors in need of social protection (ibid).
The question then arises: Was it an appropriate strategy to restrict the role of the state and cut
public spending, while opening the doors for NGOs to fill the gap, alongside that the presence
and function of NGOs are threatened by donors’ interests?
The role of NGOs is controversial, particularly in post-conflict environments, mainly due to their
dependence on donor funding (Dzelilovic, 2010). Their role in development had been recognized
for a long time. But the need was less obvious before the international donors did seek to
promote liberal peace agenda after the Cold War. In general, NGOs are supposed to provide the
services which are not covered by the state, and to empower local initiatives at the grass-roots
level (ibid). In the war-torn societies, NGOs are a major channel for international aid, and
fundamental in the international assistance chain (ibid). Given the fact that most programs which
are implemented by NGOs are largely externally-driven, local partnership seems to be difficult to
achieve (ibid). According to Génot (2010) “INGOs’ contributions to the evolution of the Iraqi
NGO sector have been quite varied and irregular.” For example, Australia as a key donor in Iraq,
was delivering fund to NGOs which were neither Iraqi nor Australian, such as the Iraq
Emergency Medicine Care Development Program, UN agencies like UN Children’s Fund
50
(UNICEF) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), which were in charge of
implementing the projects on the ground (Hassin and Isakhan, 2016).
As mentioned before, reducing the role of the state, and cutting public expenditure are key
elements in the liberal-peace agenda. This might however also undermine the capacity of the
state to provide welfare, which is already weak due to the conflict. NGOs tend in such cases to
replace the role of the state in providing services and not only to fill the gap until the state
recover, which usually reduces the quality of provision (Dzelilovic, 2010). The fact that NGOs’
programs are largely externally-driven brings into question two points. First, do these
organizations act as autonomous actors? Second, what concepts and norms do those
organizations bring? Are those concepts consistent with the prevailing cultural context? As a
brief answer to these questions Dzelilovic says: “The approach that a civil society can be created
gives rise to organizations that under pressure to conform to Western model.” (Dzelilovic,
2010:95)
Financial and Monetary reforms
The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) pursued the objective from the beginning to
transform Iraq into a market economy. This was applied also to the financial and monetary
structures. The CPA’s order number 56 (2003) about the central bank law, states that there is a
“need for the development of Iraq and its transition from a non-transparent centrally planned
economy to a market economy characterized by sustainable economic growth through the
establishment of a dynamic private sector.” An amendment to existing legislation was made in
order to reform the central bank and make it responsible for overseeing the commercial banks. In
addition, a series of actions have been taken in order to reform the monetary policy, and liberate
it from political intervention. According to the report (SIGIR, 2013), several U.S. reconstruction
programs were implemented to strengthen the CPA’s monetary and financial reforms, including:
- Strengthening the central bank to be an independent body, able to control the monetary and
credit policy, and oversee the commercial banks.
- Suspension the pervious law, which allow the Ministry of finance to authorize loans to other
government ministries.
51
- Establish The Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI) to finance projects, business dealings and banking
sector modernization efforts. TBI issued letters of credit valued at US$45 billion in its first five
years.
- Establish the Economic Support Fund in Iraq which funded Financial Development Program
with five $53 million for five years which started in 2010 by USAID.
According to the same report (SIGIR, 2013), in 2011 TBI’s chairman Hussein al-Uzri was
accused of financial violations, so he fled and then was replaced by Hamida al-Jaf. Moreover, the
central bank’s monetary policy achieved stability required for economic growth, but failed to
oversight the commercial banking system (ibid). Yet, according to anticorruption office GOI, the
banking industry was being involved in money laundering, and the 2012 audit conducted by the
Board of Supreme Audit confirmed that 80% of all money transferred out of Iraq involved
money-laundered funds (ibid).
Furthermore, the financial reform package in 2003 includes decreasing interest rate and credit
control as well as permitting foreign banks to operate in Iraq (Khalaf and Sanhita, 2009). The
elimination of interest rate control was expected to promote the financial intermediation of
banks, through providing loans to higher return projects in the private sector, instead of
subsidizing government firms (ibid). But, contrary to expectations, the financial intermediation
of bank reduced in Iraq. Also the credit deposits ratio declined from 22.9 per cent in 2002 to 15.7
per cent in 2006 (Khalaf and Sanhita, 2009).
Consequently, the financial liberalization policies have not led to improvement in the financial
intermediation of Iraqi banks. This is attributed to several factors including: the security
conditions, which prevented the private companies from expanding their activities; the increasing
informal economic activities of the private sector; and the deterioration in domestic investments
and activities in other sectors due to the liberalized economic policies (ibid). However,
transforming Iraq’s antiquated state-dominated banking sector into financial market was not
easy, as the centralized model is rooted in the country. This was exaggerated by the lack of trust
between people toward the US led efforts, including the efforts to reform the financial and
monetary sectors. The public sector in Iraq had deep legacy, therefore people were reluctant to
deal with the private banking sector.
52
Infrastructure
Societies emerging from conflict face the challenge of rebuilding wrecked physical infrastructure
including, hospitals, schools, roads, power stations, water pipelines, etc. Moreover, as a result of
the conflict the human and social capital will be destroyed to a large extent. Therefore, in the
aftermath of conflict, macroeconomic and society both need to be reconstructed in all their
aspects. Economic reconstruction includes rebuilding the physical infrastructure and restoring
the country’s human capital. It also applies monetary, fiscal and investment reforms in order to
foster economic growth and socio-economic development (Coyne and Pellillo, 2011).
The US’s reconstruction plan in Iraq comprised four pillars: infrastructure, justice, governance
and security (Brown, 2005). The majority of reconstruction’ fund poured into infrastructure
projects. As we see from the table (2) the estimated needs to reconstruct the infrastructure was
the biggest, comparing with the other sectors. The donors believed that rebuilding the destroyed
infrastructure, would push the economy as a whole to recover. The CPA sought to induce Iraq’s
recovery through large infrastructure projects focused on the electricity and water sectors
(SIGIR, 2013). The early phase of reconstruction spending emphasized large capital projects.
Almost $1.64 billion was spent on large projects (ibid). The CPA’s infrastructure projects
covered the following fields: water, sanitation, electricity, oil and gas, transportation,
communication health and education sectors. In the mid of 2004, about $3 billion were
reprogrammed to address the rapidly declining security situation (ibid). Thus, began a stark shift
away from the CPA’s large civic infrastructure strategy to a course aimed at improving the
country’s military and police forces.
The plan of pre-war infrastructure reconstruction can be described as a top-down operation based
on project-driven state-line activities (Brown, 2005). There was an assumption that peace would
come quickly, but the situation on the ground was different from the expectations, with high
levels of post-conflict violence. This turned the objective of infrastructure reconstruction to be
limited into the short-term impact, more than creation a sustainable infrastructure, which
according to Brown was probably never a prime objective (Brown, 2005). Consequently, this led
to weak achievements during the reconstruction process, and undermined the CPA’s legitimacy
in the eyes of Iraqi population. According to the (SIGIR, 2013) report, the U.S. government was
53
not solely to blame for poor outcomes. The Iraqis also lacked a clear set of reconstruction
priorities. Further, the deteriorating security environment undermined the positive impact of
reconstruction efforts. One viewpoint was that focusing on one major infrastructure need, like
electricity, would have been a better strategy than trying to improve every sector simultaneously
(ibid).
In 2015, the World Bank announced a new strategy to rebuild the country’s conflict-wrecked
infrastructure. About US$350 million was approved as financial assistance for this strategy
(World Bank, 2015). This strategy aimed to respond to the crisis caused by the security situation
and the sharp decrease in global oil prices. It sought to rehabilitate critical infrastructure in areas
free of the insurgency, covering multiple sectors such as health, housing, transport corridors,
urban development (ibid).
Private Security Companies
As a result of the CPA’s decision to dissolve the Iraqi armed forces and the police in 2003,
insecurity became the main threat to Iraq’s post-war recovery (Bjork and Jones, 2005). The CPA
failed to provide adequate security in the aftermath of the invasion. The absence of law and
administration, led to increased use of private security companies to protect reconstruction and
NGO activities (ibid). However, the attacks targeted both coalition forces, and humanitarian
organizations increased due to the ambiguous boundaries between those missions in the eyes of
the Iraqi population. Bjork and Jones (2005, p.1) confirm “the link between the use of private
security companies for reconstruction and NGO activities and the exacerbation of conflict.” The
authors also demonstrate that the increasing use of private security companies in Iraq was part of
the extensive private sector-led reconstruction programme, and not only as a part of the security
response (ibid).
Private security companies refer to the companies “with either armed or unarmed personnel, that
either support or actually undertake a security function, i.e. one concerned with coercive force”
(Taylor, 2011). The number of contractor personnel working in both Iraq and Afghanistan
outnumbered deployed troops in 2011, and the majority of them in Iraq were US citizens or third
country nationals (ibid). However, after the dissolution of the Iraqi army in 2003, the US started
54
to train and build up the new Iraqi armed forces, for which over $25 billion was committed over
the years (SIGIR, 2003). While the security problems had limited progress in every area, the
training and equipping of the Iraqi security forces succeed (ibid).
The presence of private security forces in Iraq is a relatively new concept for the population.
Moreover, the private sector and humanitarian NGOs are perceived as being part of the US-led
reconstruction. Therefore, risk of being attacked increased. Also, this constituted a wrong
strategy as Iraqis felt that they are excluded from peacebuilding operations which concerned
them and their country. Hence, it was felt that it is important to differentiate between military
acts and the humanitarian activities. Also to implement policies more appropriate to the local
context.
Conclusion
13 years after the beginning of peacebuilding operations in Iraq, the country still faces the
challenges of insecurity, political unrest and weak social and economic development. Based on
that, it can be concluded that the actual actions of Iraq’s donors were not conducive for
consolidating peace. This study shows that in the political transition phase, donors’ strategies
aimed at enhancing the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) over the political process. The
formulation of the state structures relied on including the US allies, and excluding its
“adversaries”. Hence, the political actors who were included in the political transition process
had been chosen in accordance with the external actor’s interests foremost and not according to
the public will. Therefore, each individual in Iraq in the transition period was not entitled to
participate in the government directly or through representatives. The local community also were
not engaged or consulted adequately. Regarding the economic transition, the economic policy of
the donors focused on transforming Iraq into a free-market economy. Therefore, various
amendments to the laws were made in order to facilitate the private sector business. On the other
hand, the rule of the state was restricted and public expenditures were reduced. Domestic and
foreign investments were expected to stimulate economic growth, which has not happened due to
the security problems. This coupled with the problem of weak and restricted Iraqi state has led to
weak outcomes in different economic and social sectors.
55
This study shows that the donors’ policy packages focused on how to build liberal democratic
and a free market state. In doing this, not sufficient attention was paid on how to understand the
political community, local culture and norms. This in turn led to too little focus was made on
citizenship, participation and legitimacy. A substantial part of available literature on Iraq post-
conflict attribute the failure of peacebuilding operations to the deteriorating security conditions.
This argument raises the question about the correlation between security and development in the
context of conflict resolution. This issue has been increasingly debated among scholars, and
many donors link the failure of development aid to conflict. This study points at the fact that by
applying appropriate policies when supplying development aid this can be an effective
instrument for stabilization. Also, plentiful evidences mentioned previously in this study shows
that the liberal peace agenda seems most often to be in favor of business, and less interested in
advancing the plight of the poor. Hence, this study advocates that a critical analysis of the links
between liberalism and unrest should be undertaken to assess liberal peace in order to improve
the future practice of peacebuilding.
Even if it is only a case study of one country, it seems that the lesson to be drawn from this study
is to involve local communities in planning and implementing peacebuilding operations as a
crucial factor of successful peacebuilding. Furthermore, the top-down approach of peacebuilding
seems to neglect the actual needs of people. Although, there was a constant assertion of the
importance of locals’ involvement in Iraq peacebuilding, the reality shows that this was
happening haphazard rather than as a fundamental principle. Finally, peace conditionality can be
an effective instrument if it is applied for better utilization of aid. This study shows however that
peace conditionality in Iraq was implemented mostly in order to enhance the implementation of
liberal peace agenda and not in view of the ultimate goal of securing peace and development for
the people. And more importantly, peace cannot be achieved through military means, people will
not grant legitimacy to their occupiers to be peace builders, this behavior rather undermines
peacebuilding efforts.
56
References
Benomar, J 2004, 'Constitution-Making After Conflict: Lessons for Iraq', Journal of Democracy,
2, p. 81. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edspmu&
AN=edspmu.S1086321404200811&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 5 July 2016].
Bjork, k., & Jones, R 2005, 'Overcoming Dilemmas Created by the 21st Century Mercenaries:
Conceptualizing the Use of Private Security Companies in Iraq', Third World Quarterly, 4/5, p.
777, JSTOR Journals. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&A
N=edsjsr.3993720&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 7 July 2016].
Bojicic-Dzelilovic, V 2002, 'World Bank, NGOs and the Private Sector in Post-War
Reconstruction', International Peacekeeping (13533312), 9, 2, p. 81. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=
7373911&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 7 July 2016].
Bollen, K 1993, 'Liberal Democracy: Validity and Method Factors in Cross-National Measures',
American Journal of Political Science, 4, p. 1207, JSTOR Journals. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&A
N=edsjsr.10.2307.2111550&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 2 July 2016].
Bolton, M, & Jeffrey, A 2008, 'The politics of NGO registration in international protectorates:
the cases of Bosnia and Iraq', Disasters, 32, 4, pp. 586-608. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=
34850261&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 7 July 2016].
Boyce, JK 2002, 'Aid Conditionality as a Tool for Peacebuilding: Opportunities and Constraints',
Development & Change, 33, 5, p. 1025. [Online]. Available at:
57
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=
8870461&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 4 July 2016].
Boyce, JK 2002, 'Unpacking Aid', Development & Change, 33, 2, p. 239. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=
6577961&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 4 July 2016].
Braun, V. & Clarke, V., 2006. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in
Psychology, 2, pp. 77-101. Available at: http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/11735/ [Accessed 7 July 2016].
Bridoux, J. & Russell, M 2013, 'Liberal Democracy Promotion in Iraq: A Model for the Middle
East and North Africa? Liberal Democracy Promotion in Iraq: A Model for the Middle East and
North Africa?', Foreign Policy Analysis, 9, 3, pp. 327-346. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=
89023695&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 2 July 2016].
Brown, RH 2005, 'Reconstruction of Infrastructure in Iraq: End to a Means or Means to an End?',
Third World Quarterly, 4/5, p. 759, JSTOR Journals. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&A
N=edsjsr.3993719&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 8 July 2016].
Bryman, A., 2016. Social Research Methods, 5th ed. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Coyne, C, & Pellillo, A 2011, 'Economic reconstruction amidst conflict: Insights from
Afghanistan and Iraq', Defense & Peace Economics, 22, 6, p. 627. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=
70332175&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 8 July 2016].
CPA, 2003. CPA Official Documents. [Online]. Available at:
http://www.iraqcoalition.org/regulations/#Orders [Accessed 7 July 2016].
Creswell, JW., 2009. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixes Methods
approaches, 3th ed. London: SAGE.
58
Danermark, B. 2002. Explaining society: critical realism in the social sciences. London; New
York: Routledge.
Dann, P, & Al-Ali, Z 2006, 'The Internationalized Pouvoir Constituant – Constitution-Making
Under External Influence in Iraq, Sudan and East Timor', Max Planck Yearbook of United
Nations Law, 10, 1, p. 423. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=
52401463&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 5 July 2016].
Edward, N., Paris, R., and Richmond, O., eds., 2003. New Perspectives on Liberal peacebuilding
. New York: United Nation University.
FFB, 2016. Iraq in 2016. [Online]. Available at: http://fsi.fundforpeace.org/2016-iraq [Accessed
5 July 2016].
Ehrenfeld, D, Kogut, S, & Hove, H 2003, 'Aid Conditionality and The Peace Process: An
Analysis of its Implementation, International Journal on World Peace, 4, p. 59. [Online].
Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&A
N=edsjsr.20753421&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 4 July 2016].
Filho, A., 2010. Growth, Poverty and Inequality: From Washington Consensus to Inclusive
Growth. [Online] Economic and Social Affairs. Available at:
http://www.un.org/esa/desa/papers/2010/wp100_2010.pdf [Accessed 2 July 2016].
Frerks, G., 2006, 'The use of peace conditionalities in conflict and post-conflict settings: a
conceptual framework and a checklist', Clingendael Institute. [Online]. Available at:
http://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/20061000_cru_frerks.pdf [Accessed 1 July 2016
2016].
Fukuyama, F 2006, The End of History and The Last Man, n.p.: New York, N.Y.; London: Free
Press. [Online]. Available at:
https://books.google.se/books?hl=en&lr=&id=NdFpQwKfX2IC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=the+end
59
+of+history+&ots=LBPVYsA54z&sig=yTYlslUeg9hZSjvnF9skbZmMDPk&redir_esc=y#v=on
epage&q=the%20end%20of%20history&f=false [Accessed 2 July 2016].
Genot, C., 2010. International NGOs in Iraq: Actors or Witnesses in the Evolution of the Iraqi
NGO Sector? NCCI. [Online]. Available at: http://www.ncciraq.org/en/archive/ncci-
studies/item/4781-ingos-in-iraq-actors-or-witnesses-in-the-evolution-of-the-iraqi-ngo-sector-
2010 [Accessed 7 July 2016].
Groß, L, & Grimm, S 2016, 'Conflicts of preferences and domestic constraints: understanding
reform failure in liberal state-building and democracy promotion', Contemporary Politics, 22, 2,
pp. 125-143, Academic Search Premier. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=
114081350&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 2 July 2016].
Hassin, A, & Isakhan, B 2016, 'The Failures of Neo-Liberal State Building in Iraq: Assessing
Australia's Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development Initiatives', Australian Journal of
Politics & History, 62, 1, p. 87. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=
113899976&site=eds-live&scope=site
IAMB, nd. Purpose. [Online] Available at: http://www.iamb.info/ [Accessed 5 July 2016].
IRFAD, 2014. Iraq Government. [Online]. Available at: http://www.irfad.org/iraq-government/
[Accessed 5 July 2016].
Kapp, C 2003, 'Donors pledge US33 billion dollars for Iraq, but problems remain', Lancet
(London, England), 362, 9394, p. 1467. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cmedm&A
N=14603930&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 5 July 2016].
Khalaf, A, & Sanhita, A 2009, 'Financial Liberalization and Financial Development in Iraq ',
Savings and Development, 4, p. 377, JSTOR Journals. [Online]. Available at:
60
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&A
N=edsjsr.41406503&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 8 July 2016].
Lacher, W 2007, 'Iraq: Exception to, or Epitome of Contemporary Post-Conflict
Reconstruction?', International Peacekeeping, 14, 2, pp. 237-250. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hia&AN=2
4471436&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 5 July 2016].
Looney, R 2006, 'Economic Consequences of Conflict: The Rise of Iraq's Informal Economy',
Journal of Economic Issues, 4, p. 991, JSTOR Journals. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&A
N=edsjsr.4228320&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 7 July 2016].
Maamouri, M., 2007. Iraq Reconstruction: Opportunities and Challenges. [Online]. Available at:
http://www.iasj.net/iasj?func=fulltext&aId=3237 [Accessed 8 July 2016].
Marangos, J 2012, 'The Post Keynesian retort to "After the Washington Consensus"', Journal of
Post Keynesian Economics, 34, 4, pp. 583-610. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=
77496335&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 2 July 2016].
Mikkelsen, B., 2005. Methods for Development Work and Research: A New Guide for
Practitioners, 2th ed. London: SAGE.
Montinola, G 2010, 'When Does Aid Conditionality Work?', Studies in Comparative
International Development, 45, 3, pp. 358-382. [Online]. Available at:
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.lnu.se/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=83753172-6a59-40f4-
a51c-a2e6b00d2ffa%40sessionmgr4003&vid=1&hid=4202 [Accessed 1 July 2016 2016].
NCCI, nd. Introduction to NCCI. [Online]. Available at: http://www.ncciraq.org/en/about/about-
ncci [Accessed 7 July 2016].
NCCI, 2006. Iraq Emergency Situation: Trends in violence, Humanitarian needs, Preparedness.
[Online]. Available at:
61
file:///C:/Users/Deema/Downloads/Iraq_Emergency_Situation__2006%20(1).pdf [Accessed 7
July 2016].
Nilsson, M., 2013. The Concept of Reconstruction within the Context of the National Policy of
Consolidation and Territorial Reconstruction in Colombia. Linnaeus University
OECD, 2011. Supporting Statebuilding in Situations of Conflict and Fragility: Policy Guidance,
DAC Guidelines and Reference Series, OECD Publishing. [Online]. Available at:
http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/development/supporting-statebuilding-in-situations-of-conflict-and-
fragility_9789264074989-en [Accessed 4 July 2016].
Olsson, J. and Wohlgemuth, L., 2003. Dialogue in Pursuit of Development. [Online] Stockholm:
Almqvist & Wiksell International. Available at: http://www.bistandsdebatten.se/wp-
content/uploads/2012/10/study2003_2-Dialogue-in-Pursuit-of-Development.pdf [Accessed 4
July 2016].
Otterman, Sh., 2004. IRAQ: The National Conference. [Online]. Council Foreign Relation.
Available at: http://www.cfr.org/iraq/iraq-national-conference/p7638 [Accessed 5 July 2016].
Pan, E., 2003. IRAQ: Madrid Donor Conference. [Online]. Council Foreign Relation. Available
at: http://www.cfr.org/iraq/iraq-madrid-donor-conference/p7682 [Accessed 5 July 2016].
Papagianni, K 2006, 'National conferences in transitional periods: The case of Iraq', International
Peacekeeping, 13, 3, pp. 316-333. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hia&AN=2
1807191&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 5 July 2016].
Paris, R., 2004. At war’s end: building peace after civil conflict. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Paris, R 2010, 'Saving liberal peacebuilding', Review of International Studies, 2, p. 337, JSTOR
Journals. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&A
N=edsjsr.40783202&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 2 July 2016]
62
Pugh, M 2005, 'The Political Economy of Peacebuilding: A Critical Theory Perspective',
International Journal of Peace Studies, 10, 2, p. 23. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edo&AN=
20398223&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 2 July 2016]
Rasmussen, M., 2010. The ideology of peace: peacebuilding and the war in Iraq. In: O.
Richmond, ed. 2010. Palgrave advances in peacebuilding: critical developments and
approaches. Palgrave Macmillan.
Rhoden, T 2015, 'The liberal in liberal democracy', Democratization, 22, 3, pp. 560-578,
Academic Search Premier. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=
103063122&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 2 July 2016].
Richmond, OP 2006, 'The problem of peace: understanding the ‘liberal peace’', Conflict,
Security & Development, 6, 3, p. 291. [online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=
23068394&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 2 July 2016].
Robson, C. 2011 Real World Research: A Resource for Users of Social Research Methods in
Applied Settings. 3th ed. Chichester: Wiley
Rodrik, D 2016, 'Is Liberal Democracy Feasible in Developing Countries?', Studies in
Comparative International Development, 51, 1, pp. 50-59. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=
115610125&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 2 July 2016].
Schumpeter, Joseph A. 1950. Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. New York: Harper and
Row.
SIGIR, 2013. Learning from Iraq: Final Report from Special Inspector General for Iraq
Reconstruction, March 2013. [Online]. Available at: http://www.cfr.org/iraq/learning-iraq-final-
63
report-special-inspector-general-iraq-reconstruction-march-2013/p30167 [Accessed 8 February
2016].
Suhrke, A 2007, 'Reconstruction as Modernisation: The 'Post-Conflict' Project in Afghanistan',
Third World Quarterly, 7, p. 1291, JSTOR Journals. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsjsr&A
N=edsjsr.20454999&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 1 July 2016 2016].
Taylor, T 2011, 'Private security companies in Iraq and beyond', International Affairs, 87, 2, pp.
445-456. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=
59378008&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 9 July 2016].
Transparency International, 2015. Corruption Perceptions Index. [Online]. Available at:
http://www.transparency.org/cpi2015#results-table [Accessed 5 July 2016].
Tzifakis, N, & Huliaras, A 2015, 'The perils of outsourcing post-conflict reconstruction: donor
countries, international NGOs and private military and security companies', Conflict, Security &
Development, 15, 1, p. 51. [Online]. Available at:
http://proxy.lnu.se/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=
101018166&site=eds-live&scope=site [Accessed 1 July 2016].
UNDP, 2015. About Iraq. [Online] Available at:
http://www.iq.undp.org/content/iraq/en/home/countryinfo.html [Accessed 1 July 2016 2016].
UNDP, 2015. Human Development Indicators. [Online]. Available at:
http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/IRQ [Accessed 8 July 2016].
UN, 2015. Sustainable Development Goals. [Online] Available at:
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300
Walton, DN., 2004. Abductive Reasoning. Tuscaloosa, Ala: University Alabama Press.
64
World Bank, 2016. Iraq Overview. [online]. Available at:
http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/iraq/overview#1 [Accessed 8 July 2016].
World Bank, 2014. Iraq Brief. [Online]. Available at:
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/MENAEXT/IRAQEXTN/0,,con
tentMDK:20212660~pagePK:1497618~piPK:217854~theSitePK:313105,00.html [Accessed 8
July 2016].
World Bank, 2004. UN/World Bank Present Iraq Reconstruction Needs to Core Group. [Online].
Available at: http://web.worldbank.org/archive/website01034A/WEB/0__CO-57.HTM
[Accessed 5 July 2016].
World Bank, 2004. State Owned Enterprises Reform in Iraq. [Online]. Available at:
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/IRFFI/64168382
1092419012421/20266668/SOE%20Reform.pdf [Accessed 7 July 2016].
World Bank, 2015. Iraq: Reconstruction and Rehabilitation in Conflict-Affected Cities. [Online].
Available at: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2015/07/07/iraq-reconstruction-
and-rehabilitation-in-conflict-affected-cities [Accessed 8 July 2016].
World Bank, 2016. Unemployment. [Online]. Available at:
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS [Accessed 10 August 2016].
Yin, RK., 1994. Introduction and Designing Case Studies. 2th ed. London: SAGE.
Yin, RK., 2014. Case Study Research: Design and Methods. 5th ed. London: SAGE.
Yin, RK., 2009. Case Study Research: Design and Methods. 4th
ed. Los Angeles: SAGE.