The Chaos of the Iraqi Constitutional System and Failure of Government.

• Author: Alsikoty, Ghazi

Introduction

The political life in Iraq was characterized by sectarian inclusiveness, which ruled the political system after 2003. Instead of realizing the promises of building a democratic system that guarantees human rights, freedom of expression, and the state of the citizen, the monopoly of power by the advocacy parties emerged as a model for political tyranny and the monopoly of economic resources. Thus, the political system ignored the concept of the neutrality of state institutions in democratic systems, that is, to be equal among all classes, religions, sects, races, nationalities, and cultures, with no interference in the affairs of political parties, ensuring justice in political, and economic participation, and granting the right to choose political and intellectual trends within the democratic civil state.

The main objective of any Constitution is to set the rules for the political, social, and economic relations between the state and its citizens, to ensure justice, rights and freedoms for citizens, and to guarantee national unity and state sovereignty. Hence, the Constitution must express society's needs, demands, and goals in building the state of the political system. It should accordingly be drafted, discussed, and approved by the people in a referendum. International agreements, including The Hague and Geneva conventions, indicate the need to prevent a foreign power from imposing a Constitution on an occupied country. Despite all these limitations, after occupying Iraq in 2003, the U.S. established the Iraqi Governing Council in July 2003, legislated the Transitional State Administration law, approved it as the country's new transitional constitution, and imposed and implemented it without the consent of the Iraqi people. (1)

The doctrinal ideological approach dominated the political discourse of the Iraqi parties after 2003, and this domination was reflected in the application of the constitution. In isolation from any scientific view that takes into account the constitutional rules of the modern state, this made the 2005 Constitution lose its national identity, which represented the culture of a society characterized by religious and national diversity, and the advocacy party discourse appeared governed by the concept: "the numerical Shiite majority." This contradicts Article (76): "The President of the Republic assigns the candidate of the most numerous parliamentary bloc to form the Council of Ministers within fifteen days from the date of the election of the President of the Republic."

The advocacy parties have failed to implement the Constitution to achieve justice in the distribution of wealth and insurance of social and democratic balance between Iraq's various religions, sects, nationalities, and races. The policies of religious and sectarian discrimination have led to the disintegration of society instead of deepening the spirit of citizenship to achieve national unity.

Based on the above-mentioned, the study of factors and causes of the Iraqi constitutional system is of exceptional importance for the following: the understanding of the nature of the great failure in the political and economic model in Iraq, the inability of the constitutional transition to ensure democratic development and political participation, and the transition from state capitalism to an open market economy. These were due to the lack of advocacy parties that monopolized power to scientific, economic, and political policies and programs. The principle of equitable distribution of wealth has also been absent. The phenomenon of social, religious, sectarian, and ethnic discrimination has spread. The country has moved away from the application of standards of efficiency and fair competition in the distribution of power in filling public and private jobs. This has deprived many groups in Iraqi society of participating in the political and economic process.

Civil or Religious State?

The 2005 Constitution included a set of statutes contradicting the principles of the civil and democratic state, which led to the lack of consensus and division between the parties to the political process instead of helping to solve the many political, economic, and social problems in Iraq, and many clauses in laws contributed to creating and raising serious problems. These main issues and problems can be identified as follows: Article (2) stipulates the following: "Islam is the official religion of the state, and it is a basic source of legislation," and further states: "It is not permissible to enact a law that contradicts the constants of the rulings of Islam." Paradoxically, paragraph (b) states the impermissibility of "enacting a law that is in contradiction with the principles of democracy" or "the basic rights and freedoms contained in this Constitution," according to what was stated in paragraph (c). This led to the loss of all the positive meanings mentioned in the second chapter of the Constitution dealing with rights and freedoms due to the contradiction of public policies and the continued dominance and monopoly of parties, institutions, and religious personalities of the three authorities.

The 2005 Constitution deepened the division of society into religious sects, as Article (41) states: "Iraqis are free to abide by their status, according to their religion, sects, beliefs or choices, and it may be regulated by law." This classifies Iraqis according to religious sects, their beliefs, and their personal lives, a problem that the Iraqi laws had already overcome by establishing a unified personal status law in 1959, which guaranteed equality and justice for citizens regardless of their religious and sectarian affiliations. Article (43) also affirmed the freedom of doctrinal rites, noting: "The followers of every religion or sect are free to: practice religious rites, including the Husseini rites." This raised the reservations and objections of civil society organizations, especially human rights organizations, and women's associations. Undoubtedly, the innumerable ambiguities, the divisions behind the constitution-drafting process, and the disagreements over the interpretation of constitutional texts; have created more political problems and disrupted the capabilities of the political system. The Constitution has also been a major factor in perpetuating the chaos that has prevailed in most cities and regions since the occupation of Iraq in 2003, where Iraq remains, to this day, despite electoral promises, one of the most dangerous and corrupt countries in the world. (2) The fragile security situation and economic and municipal services such as electricity, sanitation, clean water, health, and education are almost unavailable.

The Failure of the Political System to Establish a State of Institutions

The current struggle for power in Iraq constitutes a continuation of the crisis of the political system, its inability to ensure justice in the distribution of wealth and resources, its failure to guarantee human rights and democracy, its inability to achieve the peaceful transfer of power, and its reliance on a sectarian exclusionary ideology represented in the domination of Shiite parties over the three authorities. This deepened the crises between the culture of theocratic and civil parties to build a state of constitutional institutions and reflected a serious structural imbalance that established political chaos, the militarization of...