Basra "Moving Towards Independence"

Establishing separate regions did not, however, meet with broad popularity among the political elite or the public at the time. Only the Kurds, who had been granted significant administrative independence before the overthrow of the Baathist regime, welcomed the idea. The reason for opposition to separate regions included the lack of a clear vision among decision-makers regarding the separate regions and the fear that dividing Iraq might lead to serious conflicts in the future.

The failure of successive Iraqi governments to provide adequate services and improve living standards have now led to demands to reconsider the establishment of separate regions, especially in the areas rich in oil or other resources, such as Basra. The escalation of violence and sectarian conflicts between the Shiite- and the Sunni-dominated regions has contributed to strengthening these demands.

Iraqis currently appear to be welcoming of the idea of separate regions in two contexts — the first involving economics, allowing the distribution of resources according to a decentralized system and free market economy, and the second involving sectarian strife, which threatens to divide Iraq along ethnic and religious lines.

The technocrats among Iraqi politicians hold the first perspective. They consider the economic, geographic and social specificities of each region in viewing their separation as a way to eliminate corruption at the center and unleash the economic power of the provinces.

The political and economic analyst Nebras al-Kadhimi wrote on his website, “The current central state, after 90 years of experience in accumulating oil money and authority in a single place, is an old recipe for the control of some over others, the anticipation of coups, the spread of bureaucracy and corruption, the sectarian and partisan conflicts, the strangling of the private sector and the launching of adventures cross-border. Decentralization may be an obstacle and a solution all at once for all of these disasters, not only in Basra but in other Iraqi provinces as well.”