Iraq: Evolution from kingdom to republic (1932-1958)

Iraq is one of the Middle Eastern states ruled by a republic today. How Iraq, which adopted the republican form of government, overcame the steps of democratization and reached this form of government at a time when the republican form of government was rare in the Middle East, summarizes what kind of transformations were experienced in the social structure of the region. After the First World War, great empires came to an end and many Middle Eastern lands were nationalized mostly through external factors. The fate of Iraq was determined by an external factor, the British. Iraqi lands, which have lived under the domination of many effective powers for centuries, have never been the source of a national or sectarian state. In addition, its borders are not drawn in this direction. Many elements that dominated the region before the British adopted a management approach in accordance with the widespread social order of the region, and even though steps were taken to change this situation in the region from time to time, they were unsuccessful. The social structure, which is indispensable for the history of Islam, and the demographic structure of the region, which was shaped largely similar to its current state during the Islamic State period, and its widespread belief systems have been preserved for years. When the British occupied during and after the First World War, they understood that the region did not constitute a whole as a social structure, and they built the work to be done in the region on common values to facilitate nationalization. Although the British planned to be permanent in the region, the fact that Muslims constitute the majority of the elements living in the geography of Iraq proved that a Christian external factor could not hold. The mandate administrations, where the British did not form a whole with the region, did not last long, and even though a pro-British group formed during the short-term occupation period, they could not go beyond being a minority. Iraqi society learned lessons from the period when they were ruled by an external factor they did not want, and they used this knowledge while building their future. The parties established during and after the mandate is part of the parliamentary system in Iraqi society have made significant contributions to the formation of. Even though there were periods when a person or group was active in the administration with the effect of past habits from time to time, efforts to democratize continued. The most important factor that hinders the stability of the administration in Iraqi lands is the fact that the region hosts elements belonging to different ethnic groups, different religions and different sects together. Here, in this study, in which the process until the establishment of the republic in Iraq is tried to be clarified, the factors that cause the region to separate within itself and the transformation of the region in terms of administration are included. Keywords: Iraq, Democratization, Republic, World War I, British Mandate, Muslim.