Throughout its near century-long existence as a modern state, Iraq has repeatedly undergone forces threatening to undermine its territorial integrity. None, however, have truly shaken the foundations of the state as the events of 10 June 2014 and subsequently. This lecture will explore whether Iraq can be reorganized into a stable and viable democratic state, and, if not, what a post-Iraq dispensation might be.

Feisal Amin Rasoul al-Istrabadi is the founding director of the Center for the Study of the Middle East, a National Resource Center, at Indiana University—Bloomington, where he is also professor of the practice of international law and diplomacy at the Maurer School of Law and the School of Global and International Studies. He focuses his research on the processes of building legal and political institutions in countries in transition from dictatorship to democracy, especially the emergence of the rule of law in such societies, including questions of constitutionalism, legitimacy, transitional justice, and the political and cultural factors which influence the process of democratization.

From 2004 to 2010 Prof. Istrabadi served as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and deputy permanent representative of Iraq to the United Nations (on leave after 2007). Prior to his diplomatic appointment, he served as a legal advisor to the Iraqi Minister for Foreign Affairs during the negotiations for UN Security Council resolution 1546 of June 8, 2004, which recognized the reassertion by Iraq of its sovereignty. He was also principal legal drafter of Iraq’s interim constitution, the Law of Administration of the State of Iraq for the Transitional Period. Prof. Istrabadi is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He lectures often at universities and policy institutes and appears frequently in national and international media.

RSVP at CAIS