Book Review: The Struggle for Iraq’s Future: How Corruption, Incompetence and Sectarianism Have Undermined Democracy by Zaid Al-Ali

In this book Zaid al-Ali sets out why and how the post-occupation Iraqi government has failed to achieve legitimacy or improve its citizens’ lives, covering how corruption has prevented aid and oil income making a difference to security, healthcare and power. Vivid descriptions of the extent of violence and low quality of life that became part of everyday life in Iraq are remarkable and give the reader a much closer understanding of what Iraqis, especially in Baghdad, have been going through, writes Zeynep Kaya

Thoughts on the ethno-territorial demands of Kurdish political groups

Kurdish political parties in the Middle East are more important political actors than ever before. Yet whether they prefer mere autonomy or a nation state remains unclear as LSE PhD candidate and Emirates PhD Award winner Zeynep Kaya considers

Oil dispute and ethno-politics in the Kurdish region of Iraq

The competition for oil control in the Kurdish area of Iraq strains relationships between Turkey, Iraq and the Kurdish regional government of Iraq

Outperforming Baghdad? Explaining women’s rights in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

The Kurdistan Regional Government has taken action to change discriminatory laws and policies against women – surpassing other parts of Iraq in this area. Dr Zeynep Kaya discusses her research on the driving forces behind progress made toward achieving gender equality in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, while critically drawing attention to the ongoing challenges that prevent its full realisation

Initial reflections from a research trip to the Kurdistan region of Iraq

Dr Zeynep Kaya, who is currently leading a research project on the role of international actors in enhancing women’s rights in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, has recently returned from her fieldwork in Erbil and Sulaimaniyah. She gives here her first impressions on her research trip. As part of the project, the MEC will be heading to Erbil next week to hold a workshop bringing together local and regional experts on the topic. We will post some more updates on the outcome of the event as soon as we’re back

Cautious hope for Turkey: between a coalition government and early elections

The elections on Sunday June 7 were the most important general elections in recent Turkish political history. With a huge turnout, more women in parliament, better Kurdish political representation and a clear ‘no’ to a presidential system, the future of Turkish democracy looks promising. However, a hung parliament and potential early elections might jeopardise this. Regrettably, the AK Party’s initial interpretation of the elections, particularly regarding the HDP’s success, is an unfortunate start

Further distance between EU and Turkey might jeopardise PKK-Turkish government talks

The short-term fate of EU-Turkey accession talks will be determined with the publication of the European Commission’s Progress Report on Turkey on the 23 October 2013. The Turkish government’s latest democratisation package will be central to the assessmentmade by this report. However, the democratisation package seems to be failing to satisfy many sections of Turkish society, especially the Kurds, and therefore might jeopardise ongoing negotiations between the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and the Turkish government

Alliances and Power Distribution during the Balkan Quagmire (1912-1913)

The aim of this paper is to manifest the changing alliance systems at the onset and during the Balkan Wars, as well as to discuss, how the alliance system system contributed to the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. In order to achieve that goal, a brief introduction to international political system will be provided. It will be noted that the most fertile environment for establishing and maintaining alliances are the bi-polar and multi-polar political systems. The tight alliance systems just before World War I created a multi-polar international system. The multipolar system will be defined and its actors during the time period will be examined.After establishing the theoretical framework of the paper, the second part will provide a brief historical background for the Balkan Wars. The international setting, power structures and the political arena will be dealt with. The next part of the paper will concentrate on interacting alliance structures and their outcomes on the Ottoman Empire. The reason why certain states allied with each other will be discussed.  The paper will discuss how alliance formations resulted in first crippling and then eradicating the Ottoman Empire. It is obvious that the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire is a comprehensive and multi-causal process and the Balkan Wars are not the only cause. This paper, will however attempt, to establish the Balkan Wars contributed to the disintegration process and the First World War finalized it.The final part will analyze the outcomes of the alliances and the multipolar international political system. It will be concluded that the Balkan Wars despite their duration and causes were a major prerequisite in both the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the outbreak of World War I. Due to these two essential functions, the Balkan Wars on its 100thanniversary deserve to be reanalyzed and reconsidered