Talk of decentralization in Iraq is usually dominated by attempts to define the extent and geographical reach of Kurdish autonomy in northern Iraq, including the question of natural resources. The primary challenge for the state has been how to accommodate a nationalistic ethnic group that has throughout its existence expressed a stalwart desire for self-rule if not independence. This chapter examines Iraq’s decentralization “moments” in 1970, between 1991 and 2003, and in the 2005 Constitution. It then explores the challenges of implementing Kurdish regional autonomy after 2005, focusing on governance and natural resources. It argues that despite a brief experience with independence, self-rule or enhanced autonomy has been held hostage to several variables, namely: Kurdish disunity, the strength of the central government, and concerns in Turkey and Iran about the potential impact of Kurdish self-government in Iraq on their own Kurdish minority populations.

Chapter 1 describes the ways in which Assyrians located themselves in urban centers such as Baghdad and Kirkuk, and how they negotiated around their ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic grievances, either personally or communally, within the larger Iraqi context. Communities like the Assyrians began to emerge from the periphery, disrupting the existing patriarchal order and igniting socioeconomic tensions with Arab nationalists, Baʿthists, and conservatives, who felt particularly threatened by those affiliated with communism and the left – notably minorities and women. In 1959 violence erupted in Mosul and Kirkuk, and in 1963 a right-wing coup toppled the Qasim government, paving the way for the rise of the Baʿth Party.