Local leaders are making a comeback in Iraq

[unhappycamper]

A crowd gathers at the entrance to the Mansour District Council building Jan. 19. Councils are becoming the one-stop shops for people to find out what’s going on in their community. Today, the second of two stories looking at American-created Iraqi government institutions.


Local leaders are making a comeback in Iraq
By James Warden, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, March 2, 2009

Mustafa Abdul Hussein Mohammad al-Fukaki isn’t the typical Iraqi civil servant. He has a master’s in philosophy and is fond of quoting Nietzsche.

"If it doesn’t kill me, it makes me stronger," al-Fukaki says of his job as the Mansour district’s "qa’im makam," an appointed official who manages the affairs of an administrative district.

The Nietzsche quote is apt. Qa’im makams were once one of the most important local leaders, but that changed when the Americans handed much of their powers to district councils, which now appoint the qa’im makams.

Like Nietzsche’s superman, though, qa’im makams are making a comeback and could become stronger than ever. They will have direct contact with the governor, potentially weakening the district councils.

The trend is one that is occurring across the Iraqi political spectrum. Organizations that lost power to local councils are rapidly resuming their place in Iraqi society, and that may prove ill for the new American bodies.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61063



uhc comment: Part 1 can be found here.