Why did the Iraqis have difficulty forming a new government after the fall of Saddam Hussein?

Answer 1

Iraqi leadership had a number of issues in organizing a system under which they could all agree to live. Contrary to Western notions, democracy is NOT voting for leaders; that is only one part of democracy. Just voting on leaders creates elected authoritarianism and majority-minority repression. There are a number of societal requisites that make democracy viable and Iraq lacked these social pre-requisites, so they could not even agree on what system would work for everyone. In fact, the current Republic of Iraq still suffers from many of these problems.

1) Nationalism over Tribalism: There has to be a sense in the country that every group in the country is better off with everyone else in the country succeeding than failing. The benefits that accrue to one group of people should not be at the expense of all other populations in a debilitating way. Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs, and Kurds all tend to advocate for their particular ethnic, tribal, or religious grouping as opposed for the benefit of all people under the Iraqi flag.

2) Cross-Ethnic Civil Society: There have to be civil society organizations such as clubs, artist networks, political rights groups, and other similar organizations. But they must be united by cultural, philosophical, or humanitarian underpinnings as opposed to being a mechanism to foster tribalism. Iraq has almost exclusively civil society organizations that promote the divisions in their society such as political parties and religious groups.

3) Literate Population and Freedom of Speech/Press: Most people are only exposed verbally to positions that they already agree with and caricatures of positions that they do not agree with. As a result, being able to read and write exposes a person to opinions that completely disagree with their own opinion. This allows people to have different political beliefs than their families. Additionally, freedom must be granted to both express and actualize views contrary to those of the ruling coalition or the majority ethnic and religious groups. In Iraq, there is a high degree of illiteracy and minimal education, especially among women. Additionally, individuals who disagree with the dominant popular vein are often jailed or tortured for their "seditious" views of wanting to discuss why they don't want a theocracy. This is not to mention that many parts of Iraq are controlled by violent militias or Islamic State, which consistently prevent free expression through the use of violence.

4) Laws Evenly Applied / Rule of Law: No person, by dint of their power or connections, can be treated in a better manner than others and no person, on account of their differing religion, ethnicity, or tribe, should be treated worse. All people must have the expectation that a wrongdoer will be punished regardless of whether he is a male or a female or Muslim or a Non-Muslim and that the police will actively jail individuals intending to perform recriminations. In Iraq, connected people and male Muslims tend to have a superior position and are given a degree of free reign to bully other minorities into compliance. They are not interested in losing that power.

5) Virtue of Compromise: This is probably most important. The goal of the political process must not be for one party to get everything it wants, but for every party to get enough of what it wants to be satisfied and to accept that as a valid resolution. Compromising and accepting less than what you wanted initially, is virtually non-existent in Iraq and many of these groups would much rather cut off their noses to spite their faces.

Answer 2

Because those who are doing the governing cannot define a constitution, those being Governed define their own Constitution.