The Democratic Republic of Iraq is a state in the Middle East. Formed in 1920 as the "State of Iraq" under the Hashemite dynasty as a British League of Nations mandate, Iraq became an independent kingdom in 1932. The pro-British monarchy was overthrown in 1958 by a clique of military officers, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Iraq, which quickly became aligned with the Soviet Union in the ongoing Cold War. The republic was a dictatorship in all but name, with various factions of the military fighting for power. This fighting would come to an end in 1968, with the rise of the Ba'ath Party. Following a harsh Arab socialist and nationalist ideology, the Ba'athists developed a near-totalitarian state under President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr. Al-Bakr died in 1981 and was replaced after a brief power struggle by General Adnan Khairallah, the Minister of Defence. Khairallah, a relative reformist, pushed out hardliner Vice-President Saddam Hussein with the support of the military establishment.
In 1991, with the end of the Cold War and the completion of a realignment of Iraqi foreign policy towards the United States begun by President Khairallah, Iraq's authoritarian system began to thaw. Over the next decade, the Iraqi government legalized selected opposition parties, signed a peace agreement ending the ongoing Kurdish rebellion in the north, and liberalized laws regulating the media and civil society, with a new constitution in 2001 proclaiming the state as the "Democratic Republic of Iraq." State firms were privatized and foreign investment, particularly in Iraq's inefficient state-run oil sector, was encouraged. While border clashes with Iran nearly erupted into war in 2003, and street protests over corruption and high prices led to the retirement of President Khairallah in 2011, Iraq remained stable and secure.
Today, Iraq is a relatively prosperous country with one of the more open political systems in the Arab world. Still, the Ba'ath Party remains politically hegemonic, with state repression, media dominance, patronage networks and election-rigging providing it with a major advantage in elections. Corruption is rampant, and public discontent, while dissipated since 2011, remains high. The current president, former general and Minister of National Development Salah Omar al-Ali, lacks the popular support of Khairallah and is seen by most as a placeholder.
The political system of Iraq is a unitary presidential republic, with the province of Kurdistan constitutionally granted substantial administrative, political, economic and cultural autonomy. Executive power rests in the President, who is the head of state and Commander of the military. The president appoints a Prime Minister and Cabinet from the unicameral national legislature, the National Assembly or Majlis al-Wataniy. The National Defence Council, made up of the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, Defence Minister, Interior Minister, Army Chief of Staff and the chiefs of the country's paramilitary, police and intelligence agencies, is the final decision-making body for all security-related issues. Majlis al-Wataniy is elected by proportional representation with a 5% electoral threshold, filling a parliament of 325 seats. Elections are administered by the National Elections Commission, and are held every five years.
Parties currently represented in the Majlis al-Wataniy (National Assembly):
Arab Democratic Ba'ath Party: The ruling party, the Ba'ath changed its name from the "Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party" in 1991. Pan-Arabist and economically progressive in rhetoric, the Ba'ath Party is Iraqi-nationalist and corporatist in practice. The Party retains statist and liberal factions, associated with hardliners and reformists respectively. The liberals, long supported by Khairallah, continue to dominate the party with their leader, Salah Omar al-Ali, currently President. The Ba'athists increasingly rely on their patronage networks and repression to maintain power rather than genuine popular support, although the Ba'ath remains the preferred party of the bureaucratic middle class, the country's affluent state-connected business sector and ethnic minorities such as Assyrians, who rely on the secularism and relative tolerance of the modern Ba'athists for protection.
Kurdish National Unity Front: Formed through a coalition agreement between the Kurdish Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the KNUF operates as the representative of the Kurdish people in Iraq. The KNUF primarily aims to secure a greater share of Iraq's wealth for the Kurdish population in the north, along with more political autonomy from Baghdad. While ideologically at odds with the Ba'athist regime, the KNUF has formed a close relationship with the party since the Turin Accords of 1995, which ended the decades-long Iraqi-Kurdish conflict. Consistently a member of the legislative ruling coalition, the KNUF generally controls several non-security ministries, with party leader Jalal Talabani currently acting as Iraq's Minister of Education.
Democratic Party of Iraq: Formed from an alliance of opposition figures, many of them in exile, the DPI is Iraq's major liberal opposition party. Centrist in position, the DPI pushes for democratic and administrative reforms, along with increased liberalization of the economy. The DPI faces relatively minor repression due to its calls for reform. In recent years, the DPI has made efforts to reach out to other opposition movements such as the April 13 Coalition, the youth-led street protest movement that led to the resignation of President Adnan Khairallah. However, the DPI has become increasingly obsolete, squeezed between more radical reformists and the hardening Iraqi regime.
All-Iraq Socialist Workers' Party: Iraq's other major opposition group, the AI-SWP is a party of the moderate left supported by many workers in non-state industrial employment, as well as segments of the professional class. The party advocates for increased democratization as well as a rollback of some economic reforms. On economic issues especially, the party is often nationalistic, opposing Western influence and unrestrained investment strongly. Weakened due to Ba'athist control of the country's major labour unions, the AI-SWP only maintains significant public support due to its friendly relationship with Iraq's Shi'a majority. Many ex-Communists, mostly Shi'as, joined the AI-SWP due to the continued ban on more radical leftist groups. The AI-SWP was largely sidelined during the 2011 protests, although its presidential candidate, physician and labour leader Dr. Mahmoud Othman, placed second to Salah Omar al-Ali with 28.3% of the vote.
Islamic Action Organization: The IAO is a Shi'a Islamist party, formed from moderate members of the still-banned Islamic Dawa Party and other Islamist revolutionary organizations. The IAO faces intense persecution from the Iraqi government, although it is technically legal. The party advocates for an Islamic state in Iraq with a Shi'a grounding, although they pledge tolerance for religious minorities including sectarian self-government. The party is economically populist. While they hold a relatively small contingent in the legislature, they are extremely popular among poorer Shi'as and effectively control several predominantly Shi'a cities, including suburbs of Baghdad, through their private charitable and social networks.
Iraqi National Movement: Led by former Vice-President Saddam Hussein's son Uday, the INM is a far-right Iraqi nationalist party. Identifying itself as Arab nationalist, the INM has been led by the controversial and charismatic Hussein since its founding in 1994. The party scored significant success in the 2012 elections, entering the legislature for the first time. The party's platform is primarily based around Uday Hussein's ideas of "National Renewal," a return to the centralism and authoritarianism of the earlier Ba'ath period, combined with a chauvinist attitude towards non-Arab minorities. While its electoral base is made up of a mix of former Ba'athist hardliners and middle-class Arabs in the north, fearful of an increasingly assertive Kurdish population, the INM has growth rapidly to the chagrin of the West and minority communities. In recent years, the party has adopted some Islamist rhetoric to secure its newfound support among Sunnis in the increasingly marginalized Anbar province, while also engaging with Arab nationalism among Shi'as.
