Iraqi Kurds and Nation-Building

This book focuses attention on how the Kurds built the main pillars of a quasi-democratic autonomous federal entity in northern Iraq (Southern Kurdistan), despite considerable internal and external challenges. Shining a light on how Iraqi Kurds used the opportunity created by the aftermath of the 1991 Kurdish uprising to hold elections and form a parliament, and on how Kurdish officials later consolidated their regional government following the 2003 Iraq War, Iraqi Kurds and Nation-Building considers the political and economic shortfalls of the government and the obstacles facing Iraqi Kurds in a country still struggling to emerge from nine years of internal conflict and foreign occupation.

Mohammed M. A. Ahmed is the president and founder of the Ahmed Foundation for Kurdish Studies, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, which undertakes scholarly studies pertaining to Kurdish history, culture, and politics in the Middle East. As a former UN advisor, he has represented the UN in numerous regional and international conferences and presented papers dealing with food security, desertification, environmental protection, immigration, refugees, minority rights, poverty alleviation, health care, education, and technology. He is the author of America Unravels Iraq: Kurds, Shiites, and Sunni Arabs Compete for Supremacy and co-editor of The Evolution of Kurdish Nationalism and The Kurdish Question and International Law.