May 2006

Middle Eastern and African Studies

More than four months after it was elected on December 15, 2005, the Iraqi
Council of Representatives (Parliament) was finally able to nominate a new
prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki. The crisis around the prime minister was
illustrative of a deep, structural problem afflicting Iraqi polity and society
since the formation of the modern state.

In this edition of Tel Aviv Notes,

Senior Fellow Prof. Ofra Bengio stresses that al-Maliki is little more
than a compromise candidate, and that even if the current situation is not a
full-blown civil war, recent grisly events (such as the discovery in April of
2000 corpses in Baghdad), certainly indicate growing religious and ethnic
polarization, declining confidence in a weak central government, and a loss of
any sense of direction. Iraq, she concludes, is in danger of becoming a failed
state.
======================
Prof. Asher Susser
Director

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COALITION-BUILDING IN IRAQ: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE?

Sunday, May 21, 2006