![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This article hypothesises the intricate role of the elite within a consociational political framework characterised by a rentier economy. It posits that the societal interest is perennially sidelined due to the sectarian and ethnic delineations inherent in the representation of sub-identities. The competition among the elite to secure control over the state’s financial resources, predominantly derived from natural reserves, further exacerbates this neglect, engendering a myopic focus on narrow interests. The chosen case study, Iraq, stands out as a noteworthy exemplar of a consociational political system concomitantly characterised by a rentier economy. Within this milieu, the political elite, despite a protracted period of lacklustre performance spanning nearly two decades, exhibits remarkable resilience and an augmentation of its authoritative stature.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Al-Aloosy, ‘Mediation between Sunni and Shi ‘a Arabs in Iraq’.
2. Al‐Aloosy, ‘Parasitical elitism in a sectarianised political system with a rentier economy’.
3. Daragahi, ‘Iraqis Set for Proportional Representation in Election’.
4. Dodge, and Mansour, ‘Sectarianisation and De-sectarianisation’.
5. Ibid.
6. Lijphart, Citation1969 ‘Consociational democracy’.
7. Sartori, Giovanni, ‘The Theory of Democracy Revisited’.
8. Higley, and Lengyel, ‘Introduction’.
9. Field, Higley, and Burton, ‘A new elite framework for political sociology’.
10. Osei, Anja, ‘Elite theory and political transitions’.
11. Burton, and Higley, ‘Elite settlements’.
12. Lee, John, ‘Iraq falls to New Low in Democracy Index’.
13. Office of the High Commission. ‘Update on Accountability in Iraq’.
14. Nakhle, Carole, ‘How Iraq Can Move Beyond the Oil Sector’.
15. Higley, ‘Elite theory and elites’.
16. Gaxie, ‘Political and social backgrounds of political elites’.
17. Wintrop, Norman, ‘Elite theory and neo‐elite theory understandings of democracy: An analysis and criticism’.
18. Aspers, Patrik, ‘Crossing the boundary of economics and sociology’.
19. Mosca, Gaetano, The Ruling Class.
20. Pakulski, ‘The development of elite theory’.
21. Damele, and Campos. ‘Introduction. Elite Theory’.
22. Burton, and Higley, ‘The study of political elite transformations’.
23. Al-Aloosy, Massaab. ‘Political Mobilization in Heterogeneous Societies Under a Consociational Political System: A Comparative Study of Identities and Demonstrations in Iraq, Lebanon and Iran’. Ethnopolitics; (2024): 1–24.
24. See note 10 above.
25. Al-Aloosy, ‘Insurgency, Proxy, and Dependence’.
26. Al‐Aloosy, ‘Hezbollah in Syria’.
27. Al-Aloosy, ‘Deterrence by insurgents’; Al-Aloosy, Massaab. ‘Biden, Iran’.
28. Manning, ‘Political elites and democratic state-building efforts in Bosnia and Iraq’; And Al-Aloosy, Massaab. ‘Saudi-Iranian Negotiations: Managing the Conflict’.
29. Losman, ‘The rentier state and national oil companies’; Al-Aloosy, Massaab. ‘Saudi – Iranian Relations’.
30. Beblawi, ‘The rentier state in the Arab world’.
31. Mitchell, and Gengler, ‘What money can’t buy’.
32. Ibid.
33. Shambayati, ‘The rentier state, interest groups, and the paradox of autonomy’.
34. Ross, ‘Will oil drown the Arab Spring’.
35. Collier, and Hoeffler, ‘Greed and Grievance in Civil War’.
36. Fearon, ‘Primary commodity exports and civil war’.
37. Bjorvatn, and Naghavi, ‘Rent seeking and regime stability in rentier states’.
38. Bogaards, Helms, and Lijphart. ‘The importance of consociationalism for twenty‐first century politics and political science’.
39. O’leary, ‘Debating consociational politics’.
40. Lemarchand, René. ‘Consociationalism and power sharing in Africa’.
41. Lijphart, ‘Consociationalism after half a century’.
42. Salamey, ‘Failing consociationalism in Lebanon and integrative options’.
43. Younis, ‘Set up to fail’.
44. Batatu, ‘Iraq’s Underground Shī’a Movements: Characteristics, Causes and Prospects’.
45. Marr, ‘Iraq’s New Political Map’.
46. Marr, ‘Where is Iraq headed?’
47. Dodge, ‘Iraq, Consociationalism and the Incoherence of the State’.
48. Dodge, ‘Iraq’s informal consociationalism and its problems’.
49. Ltaif, ‘The Limitation of the Consociational Arrangements in Iraq’.
50. O’Driscoll, and Costantini. ‘Conflict Mitigation versus Governance’.
51. Haddad, ‘Sectarianism’and its Discontents in the Study of the Middle East’.
52. Ezzeddine, ‘Iraq and Lebanon’s Torturous Paths to Reform’.
53. Lijphart, Democracy in Plural Societies.
54. Interview with Hassan, Harith, non-resident senior fellow at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, through Skype, March 23rd 2022.
55. Meijer, Roel. ‘Muslim Politics Under Occupation’.
56. Wines, ‘Democracy has to Start Somewhere’.
57. Alshamary, ‘Religious peacebuilding in Iraq’.
58. Kadhim, ‘Iraq: Political Trends Among Shiites’.
59. Alshamary, ‘The Protestor Paradox’.
60. CNN, ‘Shiite alliance wins plurality in Iraq’.
61. Al-Qarawee, Harith. ‘Redefining a nation’.
62. Mohammed, Ali Adnan. ‘2018 Iraqi Elections’.
63. Al-Qarawee, Harith Hasan. ‘Iraq’s Sectarian Crisis’.
64. Haddad, ‘A Sectarian Awakening’.
65. CRU Report. ‘An overview of Iraq’s main political parties and coalitions in 2019’.
66. Tasnim. ‘Iraqi Judiciary Issue an Arrest Warrant against Khanjar’.
67. Al-Qarawee, ‘Iraq’s Sectarian Crisis’.
68. Lemay-Hébert, ‘Statebuilding Without Nation-Building?’.
69. World Food Program. ‘Iraq’.
70. Mohammed, ‘Education in Iraq’.
71. Khedir, ‘Not to mislead peace’.
72. Sheira, ‘Testing the Feasibility of a Human Security Approach to Combat Violent Extremism in Palestine, Egypt and Iraq’.
73. BBC News, ‘Two killed during protest in Iraqi Kurdistan’.
74. Barbarani, ‘Iraqi leader calls for end to violence in Sulaymaniyah protests’.
75. Associated Press. ‘Iraq protests signal growing tension between Sunni and Shia communities’.
76. Johnston, ‘Corruption and democratic consolidation’.
77. Manzetti, and Wilson, ‘Why do corrupt governments maintain public support?
78. Mbaku, ‘Corruption in Africa’.
79. Keefer, ‘Democratization and Clientelism’.
80. Jiyad, ‘The Mechanisms of Corruption in Iraq’.
81. Transparency International. ‘Country data: Iraq’.
82. Al-Droubi, ‘Iraq’s president says country has lost $150 billion since 2003 due to corruption’.
83. Middle East Monitor. ‘Iraq: $240bn smuggled out the country’.
84. Al-Rubaie, ‘The Price of Corruption in Iraq’.
85. Interview with Bazargan, Mustafa, an Iraqi economist, through Skype, March 25th 2022.
86. Dodge, and Mansour. ‘Politically sanctioned corruption and barriers to reform in Iraq’.
87. Hussein, ‘Iraq’s Ministry of Death’.
88. Al-Aloosy, ‘Iraq’s Water Crisis’; Al-Aloosy, Massaab. ‘Perilous Growth’”
89. Worth, ‘How the U.S. Turned Iraq into a Kleptocracy’.
90. Saqr, ‘Corruption Sidetracks Projects Intended to Make Baghdad a Capital of Arab Culture’.
91. Dodge, and Mansour, ‘Politically sanctioned corruption’.
92. Interview with Al-Faili Essam, a professor in Mustansiryah University, through Skype, March 29th 2022.
93. Ala’Aldeen, ‘Sectarianism and Sectarianisation in Iraq’.
94. See note 91 above.
95. Al-Salehy, ‘Fears of new “deep state” in Iraq as factions fight for key jobs’.
96. See note 92 above.
97. UNESCO. ‘Assessment of the labour market & skills analysis’.
98. Al-Mawlawi, Ali. ‘Public payroll expansion in Iraq’.; and Al-Mawlawi, and Jiyad. ‘Confusion and contention’.
99. Gunter, ‘The Political Economy of Iraq’.
100. The Arab Weekly. ‘Iraqi finance minister warns country faces “existential economic situation”’.
101. Clough, Sarwar, and Gray, ‘Clientelism’.
102. See note 85 above.
103. Al-Aloosy, ‘Barriers to Reform in Iraq’.
104. Hassan, ‘The truth about Iraq’s democracy’.
105. Struck, ‘Iraqi Parties Complain of Vote Irregularities’.
106. Arraf, ‘Allegations of fraud as Iraq election results trickle in’.
107. Kullab, ‘UN envoy to Iraq says effort underway to prevent voter fraud’.
108. Sky News Arabia. ‘Iraq’s Elections … Buying Votes is widespread’.
109. Abu Zaid, ‘Iraqi federal court accused of politicisation’.
110. Al-Aloosy, ‘The Iraqi Judiciary’.
111. Abdullah, Sarwar Mohammed. ‘Corruption protection’.
112. Parker, and Missy, ‘Iraqi military breakdown fuelled by corruption, politics’.
113. Rasheed, and Hameed, ‘Iraqi PM bans travel for MPs accused of defence corruption’.
114. Al-Aloosy, ‘Ruling without Responsibility’.
115. BBC. ‘Iraqi army “had 50,000 ghost troops” on payroll’.
116. Mosca, The Ruling Class.
117. Bourdieu, and Wacquant, ‘Symbolic capital and social classes’.
118. Al-Aloosy, ‘Iraq: Dangerous Landscape for Independent Journalism’.
119. Al-Aloosy, ‘By Violent Means’.
120. Kim, and Hama-Saeed, ‘Emerging media in peril’.
121. Al-Kaisy, ‘A fragmented landscape’.
122. Al-Marashi, ‘The dynamics of Iraq’s media’.
123. Al-Kaisy, ‘Disinformation in Iraqi media’.
124. Al Ghad, ‘Yehia Al Kubeisi’.
125. Rubin, ‘Iraq Cannot Succeed If its Leaders Sacrifice Press Freedom’.
126. Nas, ‘Barzani Advisor Shows Pictures of what KDP spent’.
127. Hassaan, Sadiq. ‘The Goal Behind the Hypocritical Discourse of Iraq’s Militia Media’.
128. Datareportal, ‘Digital 2021: Iraq’.
129. Al-Salhy, and Crisp, ‘Iraqi groups paying Facebook millions to churn fake news’.
130. Al-Salhy, and Crisp, ‘Exclusive’.
131. Committee to Protect Journalists. ‘Journalists killed 2005’.
132. Interview with Al-Shimari Ihsan, a professor in Nahrain University, through Skype, March 20th 2022.
133. Committee to Protect Journalists. ‘189 Journalists Killed in Iraq’.
134. Navarre, ‘The 10 Best and Worst Countries for Press Freedom’.
135. Alshamary, and Hadad, ‘The Collective Neglect of Southern Iraq’.
136. Wiseman, ‘Press freedom in Iraq plummets to ‘worst level in over a decade’.
137. BBC, ‘Iraqi TV journalist shot day after anti-government activist’s killing’.
138. Reporters without Borders. ‘Two Iraqi journalists shot dead after covering protests in Basra’.
139. Hassan, ‘How Iraq’s Top ISIS Scholar Became a Target for Shiite Militias’.
140. See note 13 above.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Massaab Al-Aloosy
Massaab Al-Aloosy is a senior non-resident fellow at the New Lines Institute. He holds a PhD from the Fletcher School – Tufts University, and he is the author of the Changing Ideology of Hezbollah – Palgrave 2020, and his research focuses on Iraq, Iran, and Shia armed groups.