Peacebuilding, Patronage-Building, and Post-Conflict NGO Corruption: Barriers to Democratization in Anbar, Iraq

Abstract

Promoting civil society has been a standard component of post-conflict democratic peacebuilding. In post-2003 Iraq, however, the international coalition's introduction of the muhasasa system (apportionment) inhibited local nongovernmental organizations' ability to hold the government to account and made many NGOs into vehicles of state capture. Substantiated by an interview-based study of Anbar Governorate following the 2017 defeat of the Islamic State organization (ISIS), we argue that modeling Iraq as a "limited access order" — in which ruling elites manage society and the economy — largely explains the muhasasa's effects on local NGOs and the widespread perception that the sector is mired in corruption.