The internal and external factors about the failure of reconstruction of the state in Iraq (2003-2017)

In this study, it was tried to explain the internal and external dynamics that were effective in the restructuring of the Iraqi State as an unsuccessful state amoung 2003 and 2017. It has been revealed how the concepts of successful and unsuccessful state are handled in the literature and what are the criteria which used in positioning a state as a successful or unsuccessful state. These criteria are defined as the criteria that international organizations have relatively agreed upon as a result of certain measures. In the thesis, the theoretical framework of which was formed by successful and unsuccessful state discussions, it is discussed how the Iraqi state should be examined within this framework. In the light of the generally accepted literature discussions, the historical and geographical peculiarities of the Iraqi State have been taken into account. It is been seen that the action plans of the USA before and after the invasion were decisive in the discussion, in which we observed that the ruptures, which are important in the handling of the Iraqi state as a failed state, emerged after the invasion of US in 2003. It is clearly seen that those action plans are affected by the decisive conjuncture, both at the regional and global level, in terms of security, economy and politics. It has been observed that the USA, which played an important role in the restructuring of the Iraqi state after the invasion, did not take into account the original structure of Iraq and adopted road maps to maintain the regional status quo. Therefore, there are thoughts that the post-2003 structure of the Iraqi state is determined not only by the US , but by the problems also which Iraq historically inherited. In this context, a long historical background is presented in the study and it is also emphasized whether the problems or social ruptures operating in this historical background which are go on yet. The geopolitical reality on which the Iraqi state historically is been built due to the tensions which had been created by the political legacies of the Ottoman/Iranian empires. This situation has deepened with the fact that Iraq has been dragged into a position where it is intervened by the states that are in the position of the global power after breaking away from the two traditional powerful states. The tendencies of global power states such as England and the USA to be a regional power through Iraq and to use Iraq as a regional actor has emerged from the process of nation-states to the present day, and this trend was maintained by the USA to a large extent today. Iraq has not been able to establish its sovereignty in terms of its legal structure, notion of security and economic positions put the state in a weak position with a chaotic domestic political structure. Legal legitimacy, which is the main reason for the existence of modern nation-states, presents a pre-modern appearance in terms of establishing the economic production plan, that is designing and protecting the market in a predictable way, and most critically, providing security. The ethnic and sectarian composition of Iraq is heterogeneous. This heterogeneous structure could not be controlled under the umbrella of a homogeneous and unitary nation-state, and the federative structure presented as a solution could not provide the solution needed by the Iraqi state. Therefore, the Iraqi state continues to take its place in the political arena as an unsuccessful state that cannot meet the basic needs of its citizens and cannot fulfill the most basic requirements of modern state capacity in a political ground where legally defined and framed institutionalism cannot be built, otherwise individuals and local forces dominate. It is clear that there is not only one reason for the failure of the Iraqi state, which is behind in the measurements in a dominant part of the successful state indicators, not only its historical geography, but also its internal tensions, together with the external interventions it has suffered at regular intervals. The arguments of the thesis were supported by data and created question marks on some issues that needed to be responded. Keywords: successful state, failed state, Iraq, regional conflicts, US invasion.