The paper describes Paul Bremer and the CPA’s struggle to draft a new Iraqi Constitution in the aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. It goes into great detail how the failure in the part of the CPA actors regarding influence of religion and nationalism changed and delayed the implementation of the Iraqi constitution. Even though religion is related to the culture of the group by way of personal and collective identity, it also has a social function within the society it works. Therefore, in Post Saddam Iraq, the Grand Ayatollah Sistani was able to mobilize such functions for nationalist causes as well.
Bremer and his staff were extremely uneducated about the religious and nationalistic tendencies of Post Saddam Iraq. The paper states multiple times that the CPA staff did not speak Arabic and had little background in Iraqi politics or culture. It is never explained why Bremer was selected to lead the CPA team - having no background in Middle Eastern politics or political leadership which basically amounted to being a governor of a country as complicated as Iraq.
Bremer derived his authority through a mandate from President Bush to build a political structure similar to western style democracy. This may have led him to minimize the …show more content…
Some of the key players – Clerics were not fully accounted into the process of post Saddam Iraq. The selection of transition team with no Arabic speaking skills further exacerbated the ability to communicate with political actors who were going to shape the Iraqi future. The want of American politicians to shape Iraqi government into a western style democracy ran headstrong into the need of Iraqi people of government that was going to be based off Nationalism backed by Islamic precepts. Once aware of this reality, the lack of flexibility from CPA added more delays into the implementation of the
Bremer and his staff were extremely uneducated about the religious and nationalistic tendencies of Post Saddam Iraq. The paper states multiple times that the CPA staff did not speak Arabic and had little background in Iraqi politics or culture. It is never explained why Bremer was selected to lead the CPA team - having no background in Middle Eastern politics or political leadership which basically amounted to being a governor of a country as complicated as Iraq.
Bremer derived his authority through a mandate from President Bush to build a political structure similar to western style democracy. This may have led him to minimize the …show more content…
Some of the key players – Clerics were not fully accounted into the process of post Saddam Iraq. The selection of transition team with no Arabic speaking skills further exacerbated the ability to communicate with political actors who were going to shape the Iraqi future. The want of American politicians to shape Iraqi government into a western style democracy ran headstrong into the need of Iraqi people of government that was going to be based off Nationalism backed by Islamic precepts. Once aware of this reality, the lack of flexibility from CPA added more delays into the implementation of the