Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government, state-building efforts: The role of historical events and political parties in the search for democracy and independence

The people living in the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government have fought for independence in the region for years and struggled to have a right to speak. The historical process and political actors in the region have been the most important factors in state-building efforts. The two factors mentioned sometimes affected the search for independence and the democratization process positively and sometimes negatively. In this respect, the aim of the research is to examine the positive and/or negative contributions of historical events and political parties in the process of democratization through the example of the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government. The autonomous state KRG and the two actors' effect on the process have been examined within the scope of the research. Apart from the historical events and the political parties, other actors that could affect the democratization process were not included in the study. Qualitative data were created by using William E. Hudson's five-point indicators of democracy. The research developed within the framework of the historical process of KRG and the year 2003 which was accepted as the breaking point, and two interrelated studies were presented as events developed before 2003 and after 2003. With the results of this research, the question of "What are the role of political parties and historical events in the pursuit of independence and the state-building process?" has been tried to be answered. Based on the main question sentence of the research the sub-questions such as, 1) Which parties were involved in the KRG between 1991-2015 and which party was more effective, 2) What historical events were within the scope of the research, 3) The roles of these historical events, 4) The roles of active parties in the KRG, 5) How much emphasis was placed on William E. Hudson's five democracy indicators in pre-2003 and post-2003 sources by using Maxqda Qualitative Analysis Program has been tried to be answered. Although the study contains qualitative data, it was tried to increase the reliability of the research by using the Maxqda Qualitative Data Analysis Program. Due to the lack of resources in the subject, most of the sources have been examined in their original language or translated. Indications and results were interpreted within the scope of the literature and offered guidance suggestions for undergraduate/graduate students, academics, and political consultants.