The role of civil society and non-governmental organizations in the nation-building process of Iraq

Kasaeizadeh, , Fatemeh; Karimifard,, Hossein; Hossein Zadeh,, Ali Hossein; Najafpour, , Sara

doi:10.22034/fasiw.2024.206149

The role of civil society and non-governmental organizations in the nation-building process of Iraq

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

, fatemeh kasaeizadeh ¹

Hossein Karimifard, ²

Ali hossein Hossein Zadeh, ³

, sara najafpour ⁴

¹ Department of Political Science and International Relations, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran

² Political science،Ahvaz Branch،islamic Azad university،Ahvaz،Iran

³ Professor, Department of Sociology, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

⁴ Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22034/fasiw.2024.206149

Abstract

After 2003, Iraq was weakened by a series of conflicts and crises. In fact, this project was an aggressive foreign (exogenous) state-building project that led to internal violent conflicts caused by social, ethnic, political and ideological factors and widespread instability and insecurity in Iraq. One of the indicators of nation-state building is the progress of democracy and democratic institutions. Civil society is the institutions, social populations of citizens and elites and activists of the public space of the society who are active in most of the non-governmental organizations and institutions in the political-economic, cultural and social fields. On the other hand, nation-state building is a process that gains meaning through the accumulation of power based on territorial saturation, political and economic stability, and social solidarity. Based on this, it is important to get familiar with the institutions of civil society in Iraq and to examine the influence of non-governmental organizations and international NGOs in Iraq after the conflict, and therefore civil society has been researched in the framework of the nation-state theory, in addition to the fact that civil society guarantees freedom. It focuses on empowering individuals and groups to freely express their identity within the framework of the law, and is considered a critical area of human rights both at the national and global levels, the field of struggle and liberation. In fact, the government Nation-building is a process that gains meaning through the accumulation of power based on territorial saturation, political, economic stability and social solidarity, and nation-building is considered a broad convergence between the state and the modern nation. But state building is a process in which military, judicial, executive and legislative institutions are formed, therefore, the state and the nation are two distinct structures, but they move forward in a mutual relationship. In Iraq, the existence of a young population interested in such voluntary activities and the value of positive citizenship to compensate for the weak governance of the political structure by the people has greatly increased the public desire for them. - Nation building in Iraq. Charities and non-governmental organizations are two types of popular social organizations. NGOs have a more meaningful activity than charities and they are more in search of a solution to meet the needs of the deprived with basic empowerment measures and by using people's aid and financial resources to create infrastructure, to skill training, create employment, create culture, develop individual and social identity and so on. .. they pay Also, economic and social entrepreneurship and the creation of added value is one of the most important solutions for the sustainability of non-governmental organizations and the independence of society, which is the goal of such organizations, and by providing facilities and resources in various fields, they help the inherent reliance of vulnerable groups in society.
In addition, non-governmental organizations in the social, health and human rights fields with specific social goals in an effort to reform and revise ineffective laws and regulations and provide plans and proposals to support the affected and vulnerable groups, especially patients, women and children, in legal authorities and They are the public space of society's politics. In addition, the non-governmental organizations in the field of cultural, religious, artistic and sports of the youth have been active in the field of informing and increasing the level of awareness and education of the general society, institutions and related social organizations and in an effort to reduce and prevent social harm and the occurrence of crime in the society from among the goals of such organizations. It is difficult to separate culture from politics and other areas. In most Islamic countries, culture and civilization are mixed with religion and politics. Finally, non-governmental political organizations that are not directly considered part of the government structure, but play a very important role as mediators between the individual and the ruling powers. However, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the foremost organization that supports all civil society institutions in Iraq, and the agency's quarterly report on its effectiveness inside Iraq shows that it spends three billion dollars annually. provides support to civil society organizations and the benefits of its programs reach about 1,600,000 people and spends 880 million dollars in different sectors. In the early years after the collapse of the Baath regime, the Iraqi people were affected by aggressive and foreign democratization programs as mentioned, and organizational cases such as these several examples of international NGOs are active throughout Iraq according to Hippler's definition and are among the international organizations that People's involvement in their establishment is less, but they operate with high organizational power and more effectiveness. Organizations with regular administrative structures and organizations with statutes, programs, and visions with legal personality registration and active at all local and international levels, whose approach has gradually changed from mere support to empowering target groups. In fact, comparative studies in crisis areas have shown that people do not live in a political and administrative vacuum after the collapse of government structures. Instead, communities turn to other mechanisms to solve common issues, or traditional methods are revived, or other institutions such as local groups and non-governmental organizations such as NGOs assume political and administrative responsibilities. The United Nations as well as governmental and regional institutions in creating rapid and flexible infrastructure for reconstruction, establishing schools and educational centers and influencing political order by addressing war, legal, and political crimes and helping marginalized groups, and creating structures A transparent and democratic government has an active role. The process of nation-building through these organizations relies on the fact that non-governmental organizations consider nation-building and thus the creation of civil society as an alternative to defective government structures. The important characteristics of civil society organizations can be enumerated as follows: 1. The spontaneous participation of people, which distinguishes it from other social activities, 2. The organizational and regular form of its institutions that people can join at will, 3. The independence of these institutions from the government. 4. The value foundations of these institutions, which are intertwined with peace, freedom, equality and high moral concepts. After 2003, after the collapse of the political system, the Iraqi political parties won the political field inside Iraq, but they could not represent all the strata of the Iraqi society, and a significant population objected to the political coalitions and, of course, under the influence of international incentives, slowly attracted the means of power control, namely the associations. People's organizations were modernized in the democratic structure. Also, the expansion of the process of globalization and the reduction of the power of governments in dealing with global issues has provided the ground for the presence and strengthening of the role of these institutions. The hypothesis proposed in the main answer of this research is that it seems that non-governmental organizations and people's organizations are expanding in Iraq and play a role in nation-state-building after the conflict. The findings of the research, which were collected by a descriptive-analytical method with a combination of library and field sources, indicate that the Iraqi society has suffered from the effects of the civil war and human rights violations, sectarian and political tensions, and social crises by taking advantage of political freedom and the possibilities of social networks and The appropriate platform for strengthening the civil society by relying on the law on the formation of semans along with parties and other elements of the civil and traditional society has been effective in nation building after the conflict. The civic role and social responsibility of individuals and their contribution to the realization of stability and development is a variable matter, and this research tries to examine this concept in the Iraqi society and predict its effectiveness in the future.

Keywords

civil society

organization

non-governmental

nation-building government

Iraq

Subjects

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