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Foreign policy centre in London analyses
Iraqi referendum
24.10.2005
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The outcome of the Iraqi
Referendum and the challenges for the future were
discussed at a senior-level Foreign Policy Centre
lunch-debate in London on Thursday 20 October, the
day the official announcement was due.
Steven Twigg, Director of the Foreign Policy Centre
chaired the debate with speakers Khaled Salih,
Political Advisor to the Kurdistan Regional
Government, and Yehia Said, Research Fellow, Centre
for the Study of Global Governance at London School
of Economics.
The panelist discussed the advance analysis of the
challenges facing the Iraqi polity in establishing
political stability and security. Khaled Salih said:
“This Constitution must be based on a voluntary
union. Iraq is experiencing internal fighting, in
the Kurdistan Region in Iraq this happened 10 years
ago. The rest of Iraq is busy trying to rebuild
civil society institutions that have collapsed,
Kurdistan’s institutions, developed over a decade of
autonomy, have remained in tact. The Kurdistan
Region is a cornerstone of the new Iraq.”
Yahia Said presented the view that:”The Constitution
is based on a club of regions and unity depends on
common goodwill. There will be no amicable divorce.”
On the security situation, Yahia continued “The
current violent situation in Iraq is born out of
increased tit for tat sectarian attacks at a society
level. It is the politicians who define themselves
on ethnic terms that have helped create this
environment of division; the only party that had
accountability and represented the people was the
Kurds.”
The debate was attended by a former British
Ambassador to Iraq, members of the House of Lords,
opinion formers and senior journalists. The event
was organized by the Foreign Policy Centre as part
of The Civility Programme which was launched by Jack
Straw in March 2004. The Programme is based on the
belief that reform can only come from a functioning
civil society supported by the rule of law and
essential freedoms of speech, information,
publication and association. |
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Khaled Salih |
Khaled Salih, is
political advisor to the Kurdistan Regional
Government and Kurdistan National Assembly. He is
Senior Lecturer in Middle East politics at the
Centre for Middle East Studies (University of
Southern Denmark). Educated at Gothenburg
University, Sweden, he taught international and
Middle East politics at the Department of Political
Science at Gothenburg University, where he received
his PhD, and University of LindkĂping, Sweden.
Khaled is also co-editor of the 'The Future of
Kurdistan in Iraq'. May 2005 |
Yehia Said is Research Fellow at the Centre for the
Study of Global Governance. His experience combines
academic research with private sector work and
activism. Prior to joining LSE he worked as a
corporate finance consultant with Ernest & Young in
Russia. He also worked as a project coordinator with
the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly in Prague. Yahia
Said specializes in issues of economic transition
and security in post-communist societies. His
publications include 'The New Anti-Capitalist
Movement: Money and Global Civil Society.',
co-authored with Meghnad Desai, in Global Civil
Society 2001 and 'Regime Change in Iraq',
co-authored with Mary Kaldor (CsGG, 2003).
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