Iraq’s bitter recent history has suggested that the totalitarian state will “care” for its people from the cradle to the grave. Prevalent is the idea that the state educates its citizenry, indoctrinating them with its own ideologies, and then upon graduation, provides them with a job in a government department or offshoot, or recruits them into the military where they go on to fight the state’s internal and external battles.

Iraqi researcher Mathhar Mohammed Saleh has described this correctly as a perfect example of “oriental despotism”, whereby the land’s rulers provide services free of charge but eventually demand a price. Individuals are compelled to give up their free will and surrender to their totalitarian rulers. And naturally, any impetus for personal initiative diminishes.

It is imperative that we abandon this idea. Iraq should not waste its wealth on projects and ideas that don’t serve the greater good, or the long term development of our country.

Still, it is obvious that any kind of transition – from a charity state and rentier economy to something more multi-faceted – will not be achieved with the wave of a wand. It would be a long process during which radical changes would need to be made to both social and economic policies as well as to the relationship the government has with its own people.

A most important step toward accomplishing this goal is through tax restructuring, a progressive taxation system and then redistribution of those taxes to fund social assistance, where it is needed. Iraqi decision makers need to know that providing citizens with decent employment opportunities as the route to a decent living, is a far better way to achieve their goals than simply by distributing grants.

The only way forward is to adopt the principles of a more balanced economy that rewards private initiatives and adheres to accepted standards of social justice.

(Source: NIQASH)