FOREIGN AID TO IRAQ: DONORS PROMISES AND POLITICAL ELITES COMPROMISE

10.31857/S032150750008722-6

Ruslan Sh. MAMEDOV, Post-graduate student, Moscow State Institute of International Relations MFA of Russia (MGIMO-University) ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

    Post-conflict reconstruction and creation of favorable conditions for attracting foreign aid have gained particular relevance in Iraq following the defeat of the “Islamic State” (IS). The results of the International Conference for Reconstruction of Iraq, which was held in Kuwait in February 2018, were contradictory. Most foreign aid projects and sums were pledged in a form of investments and loans.

    Foreign aid, on the one hand, has a positive effect on the situation in the country in terms of population support, but on the other hand has a number of negative effects. So, in conditions of external assistance, the ruling elite becomes dependent on it and preserves the situation. Elites do not solve problems and stop pushing for real development of institutions. At the same time, the elite itself is fighting for the distribution and management of this external assistance, which gives rise to the tensions within the Iraqi ruling class. Nevertheless, in the absence of external assistance and the need to receive it and get those funds coming to the country, in general, other processes take place. Despite deep differences, the factor of the need to obtain external funds also contributed to the finding a compromise among the Iraqi ruling elites, as it happened, for example, in the context of the formation of a new government in 2018.

    Nevertheless, the problems of ensuring security, political instability, corruption and inefficiency of state institutions negatively affect the attraction of international assistance. Recognizing the existence of complex interdependencies between the development of the domestic political situation, which depends on the behavior of the political elite, and foreign aid to states weakened by armed conflict, this study aims to analyze the specifics of the mutual influence of these factors in Iraq after the victory over IS.

IS, Iraq, foreign aid, political elites, reconstruction