Political Science: Politics of the Developing World (Essay Sample)

POLITICAL SCIENCE
Name
Course
Date
Political Science
Introduction
Iraq’s population comprising of approximately 33 million citizens has a distinct religious as well as ethnic diversity. The population has a big number of religious and ethnic minorities such as Christians, Assyrians, Yezidis, Turkmens, and Kurds. Islam is the dominant religion in Iraq with approximately 96 percent followers. The minority ethnic and religious groups face discrimination in both political and social spheres and the government’s response is yet to record positive progress. Despite an inclusive constitution that embraces all religions and ethnicities in Iraq, cases of discrimination against these populations are high and the state should think of a better way of achieving equality for all, for instance, by charging violators in a court of law.
The Iraq constitution acknowledges the multiple nationalities of the state besides its diverse religious beliefs and sects. Further, the constitution recognizes Arabic and Kurdish as the two official languages. Iraq further extends linguistic rights to Syriac and Turkmen languages. The constitution is non-discriminative and embraces equality of all Iraq’s. Further, it emphasizes fair treatment of all the citizens in different spheres such as cultural, educational, administrative, and political. However, these robust provisions are rarely accessible by the Iraq minorities who do not even have the room to exercise their basic human rights regardless of Iraq guaranteeing them these authorities in the constitution.
The political system of Iraq, for instance, does not include minorities who thus lack a representation which is the biggest challenge that faces the minority ethnicities in the country. The government thus neglects the interests and concerns of the ethnic minorities since they do not have a political figure to voice their needs and wants to the state. Further, minority populations in Iraq do not enjoy any protection regardless of their ethnic status.
The government neglects them and instead treats them as religious minorities that are predominant in the region. The negligence by the government has forced most of the ethnicities to identify themselves as part of larger minority categories. Some of the minorities that have since shifted to identifying themselves with the larger Kurdish majority include the Faili Kurds and the Shabaks. When Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq, the Yazidis identified themselves as Arabs, and this politicization of their identity has led to severe violence attacks against them.
Christian Armenians and Assyrians have encountered a similar situation of forced identity. In 2009, these religious groups succeeded in securing political positions during the provincial elections, a move that attracted various threats to their security. The Baha’i’s suffer from prohibitions from owning national identity cards especially those born in the last three decades. As a result, they do not have access to passports or other citizenship documents and cannot thus leave Iraq to other countries or enroll in schools.
Minority groups in Iraq do not exercise the freedom of expression due to the severe linguistic restrictions present in the state. The constitution guarantees the minorities the freedom of expression, but these rights remain unexplored as the schools, for instance, restrict the Turkmen from teaching their language to students. These restrictions on using some ethnic languages in Iraq have created severe consequences such as the endangerment of some dialects, for instance, Aramaic (Assyrian).
Religious discrimination characterizes the state of Iraq with minority religions being victims of persecution. The Christian minorities, for instance, face frequent attacks including the 2010 events witnessed in Mosul where people would be stopped in the streets and ordered to produce their identity cards. Those with Assyria or Christian names were shot dead. The Yazidis also suffer from religious discriminations such as the 2007 episode which involved attacking all the groups involved in the sale of alcohol with the biggest share of traders being the Yazidis.
Ten more alcohol sellers of the Yazidis origin faced death on May 14, 2013 in Baghdad while working in an alcohol shop. The Kaka ‘i’s and Baha’i’s have on several occasions become suffered due to the state propaganda which subjects them to various attacks. Iraq associates the Kaka ’i’s with devil worshipping while the Baha’i’s are portrayed as heretics and apostates. The Turkmen and Armenians witness the bombing down of their churches on frequent basis.
The minorities in Iraq become victims of forced internal displacement. Through the Ba’ath regime which was in power until 2008, the minorities lost their property such as land. The regime used land grabbing and confiscation as its assimilation policies. After its fall, these acts of grabbing land from the minorities continued. However, in the present day, cases of land grabbing have subsidized, but the victims of internal displacement are yet to receive compensation. Moreover, they encounter frequent property disputes with either the Arab majority or the residents of the region.
The Iraq Property Claims Commission has proved ineffective in resolving the land disputes, and the minorities thus have little faith in the agency to offer them a lasting solution. The residents of Bashir in northern Iraq are the major populations caught between these conflicts which are unlikely to offer them a satisfactory answer or restore their lost property. On the same note, Palestinians and the Roma are incapable of obtaining long-term residency and are thus continually weighed down by registration requirements.
The judicial service system in Iraq acts unfairly towards religious and ethnic minorities. Some of the limitations they face as a result of the inefficiencies of the system include the lack of protection from the targeted violent episodes. Moreover, minorities suffer from prohibitions from exercising their political, economic, social, civil, and cultural rights. On the same note, the minority populations have limited access to identity documents as citizenship or national ID cards.
Both ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq face the lack of sufficient security protection as they are often victims of targeted violent attacks. Some regions ion Iraq highly politicize religion and ethnicity thus increasing the security risks of the minorities in areas such as Salahaddin, Kirkuk, Nineveh, and Diyala. These regions are identified as Disputed Internal Boundaries (DIBS) and put the religious and ethnic minorities at a high risk of targeted violence.
Government Response
The Iraq constitution extends religious liberty to all its citizens but recognizes Islam as the official religion in the country. As a result, Islam is Iraq’s source of legislation, and the country does not enact any laws that are contrary to the provisions of Islam. On the same note, the constitution outlines that Iraq shall refrain from enacting laws that contradict the laid out principles of democracy and basic freedoms and rights of the citizens. Both Muslims and non-Muslims enjoy the provision of freedom in their religious beliefs.
The government advocates the acceptance of all religious groups in the country and emphasizes that every religious group should feel free to practice its traditions. In November 24, 2010, the Iraq government proved its stance on protecting all religious groups in the country by approving a document presented by the Council of Representatives which urged the state to provide protection over the Christians in Iraq. The October 31 attack on the Sayidat al-Najat Church aroused negative emotions among political and religious leaders from different faiths and denominations.
In response, the Iraq government helped the church through offering funds for reconstruction. Further, the state, through its prime minister, ensured the church and all other Christian denomination received long-term extra security. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) also welcomed Christians freeing from the insecurities in Baghdad on a temporal basis. Further, KRG provides some social services to the minorities such as paying instructors to teach Yezidi religious instructions to students in state-funded schools.
Political representation of the minority groups has increased since individuals from these populations hold senior positions in national and central governments as well as the KRG. The Iraq Council of Ministers (COM) incorporated two ministers of the Christian background to manage the human rights and industry and minerals dockets. Moreover, COM included one Yezidi minister to run the civil society affairs. In December 2010, COM appointed one minority member to join its team. The composition of the Kurdistan Region Council of Ministers comprises of two Christian ministers to run the finance and civil society dockets respectively. Two of the prominent Yezidis are ministers without portfolios in the Kurdistan Region Council of Ministers.
Irrespective of the government’s significant efforts in increasing the safety of the minority populations as well as integrating them with the larger categories, there is little impact. These efforts have not yielded positively as reports by the Institute for International Law and Human Rights (IILHR) indicate multiple challenges encountered by the minorities. The study utilized data gathered from 2010 to 2013 and concluded that religious and ethnic groups in Iraq still face discrimination, displacement, arbitrary arrest and detention, intimidation, and frequent bombings. On the same note, religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq are currently facing marginalization. On the same note, minorities face un...