A Constitution for Iraq: Does It Matter?

The birth-pangs of Iraq’s new constitution are symptomatic of the deep crisis afflicting the country, and even if an agreed document is eventually produced, it may not only fail to resolve the country’s underlying problems but could actually make them worse. After all, in its eighty-five years of existence, Iraq has had no fewer than six constitutions. The first was imposed in 1925 by the British authorities and it remained in effect for thirty-three years. But despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that it bore all the hallmarks of western democracy, that constitution never struck roots in Iraqi society or dictated political processes there, and it was abolished along with the Iraqi monarchy in 1958. The four subsequent constitutions of 1963, 1964, 1968 and 1970 were all defined as temporary instruments and lasted only as long as the regimes that promulgated them.