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International Journal of Constitutional Law Advance Access originally published online on September 28, 2007
International Journal of Constitutional Law 2007 5(4):670-698; doi:10.1093/icon/mom026
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© The Author 2007. Oxford University Press and New York University School of Law. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Iraq's Constitution of 2005: Liberal consociation as political prescription

John McGarry* and Brendan O’Leary**

* Professor of political studies and Canada Research Chair in Nationalism and Democracy, Queen's University; Kingston, Ontario. Email: john.mcgarry{at}queensu.ca

** Lauder Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania. Email: boleary{at}sas.upenn.edu


  Abstract

Democracies have two basic choices for managing ethnic, national, and religious diversity. They may seek to construct a single all-embracing public identity through "integration" or try to accommodate dual or multiple public identities through "consociation." These are the two dominant, broad-based prescriptions that are offered for addressing the conflict in Iraq. In this article, we argue that Iraq's new Constitution, ratified in 2005, reflects a "liberal" form of consociation that accommodates Iraq's democratically mobilized communities. We examine in detail the Constitution's provisions for both self-government and for shared government, and argue that these provisions represent a reasonable way forward for all of Iraq's citizens and peoples. The Constitution is defended against integrationist criticisms.


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