What is the political situation in Iraq?

Answer 1

Currently, as of June 2016, Iraq is in the midst of a civil war between the Republic of Iraq and the Islamic State. At the same time, the nominally Republican territory of the Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq has effectively broken away from the Republic of Iraq as an independent-in-all-but-name country of Iraqi Kurdistan. However, Iraqi Kurdistan continues to be engaged in the War Against Islamic State.

The Republic of Iraq is the result of the US-led constitutional reforms in 2006, which led to the Shiite majority electorally coming to power. Because of the Prime Ministry of Nouri al-Maliki and his successor, the country has taken a strongly Shiite sectarian outlook, making life difficult for Sunnis under the Republics control. As the Iraqi Army has repeatedly found it difficult to defeat Islamic State, Shiite militias and Iranian Special Forces have been in the Republic to help Iraq make gains. However, these militias also terrorize the local populace and harangue religious minorities, sexual minorities, Iraqis who assisted the US occupation in some way, and Secular or Sunni Muslims. With the hope of not losing Iraqi Kurdistan as an ally, the Republic maintains a good relationship with the Kurds and "permits" their functional independence.

Iraqi Kurdistan is effectively the union of the three major Kurdish provinces and the Kurdish-majority regions in Iraq captured by the Peshmerga or Kurdish Army. The Kurds have managed to create a pluralistic state that permits many religions, but are hesitant about giving political autonomy to any of the religious minorities located within the state. Conditions in the major cities of Kurdistan like Hewler/Erbil tend to be relative safe, punctuated by occasional bombings. However, because of political disagreements between Iraqi Kurdistan and the Kurdish militants in Syria (YPG Rojava) and the Kurdish militants in Turkey (PKK), the relations between the groups have some tension. The government in Kurdistan seems to be a hybrid between democracy and nepotism, with most leaders coming from the Barzani or Talabani Kurdish families.

Islamic State is the "country" that seeks to create a worldwide Sunni Caliphate, a theocratic country ruled by religious Sunni Islamic Law. As Fundamentalist Sunnis, Islamic State holds that Shiite Islam (dominant in Iraq) and Alawite Islam (politically powerful in Syria) are heresies and publicly proclaim "takfir" (blasphemer) against them. Islamic State's opposition to the Kurds is similarly based in Kurdish secularism and religious pluralism. Life is hard for people under Islamic State occupation, especially religious and sexual minorities, but it is still difficult for Sunnis as well. The Islamic State operates like a mafia, stealing property and commandeering people's skills for its own use. Sunnis in Islamic State often contend that even with the repression of Islamic State, they are probably treated better there than at the whims of the Shiite militias operating in the Republic of Iraq, so it is hard for the Republic of Iraq to gain their loyalty.