The Muhasasa Principle as an Informal Element of State Structure Building in Modern Iraq

This publication examines the specifics of the institution of recruiting political elites along ethno-confessional lines, known in the Arab world as muhasasa ta'ifiya. The relevance of the material is determined by the disclosure of the content of the political process in the so-called post-Saddam Iraq. The author seeks to determine the role of external, primarily occupation forces influencing the interactions between Iraq's ruling elites. The article seeks to identify the main features of Iraq's political structure after 2003 and to assess the role of the muhasasa system in the Iraqi political system at this stage in history.