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Kurdistan Region of Iraq UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA INSTITUTO DE CIÊNCIAS SOCIAIS Political Parties and the Press In The Kurdistan Region Of Iraq Mohammedali Yaseen Taha Supervisor: Doutor António Costa Pinto Co-Supervisor: Doutora Angela Movileanu Tese especialmente elaborada para a obtenção do grau de Doutor em Ciência Política, na especialidade de Política Comparada 2018 UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA INSTITUTO DE CIÊNCIAS SOCIAIS Political Parties and the Press in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq Mohammedali Yaseen Taha Supervisor: Doutor António Costa Pinto Co-Supervisor: Doutora Angela Movileanu Tese especialmente elaborada para a obtenção do grau de Doutor em Ciência Política, na especialidade de Política Comparada Júri: Presidente: Doutora Ana Margarida de Seabra Nunes de Almeida, Investigadora Coordenadora e Presidente do Conselho Científico do ICS-ULisboa Vogais: - Doutora Maria Raquel de Sousa Freire, Professora Associada com Agregação Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra; ! Doutor Tiago Luís, de Matos Roma Fernandes, Professor Auxiliar com Agregação Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade Nova de Lisboa; ! Doutor José António Afonso Santana Pereira Santucci, Professor Auxiliar Escola de Sociologia e Políticas Públicas do ISCTE-lnstituto Universitário de Lisboa; ! Doutor António Jorge Pais da Costa Pinto, Investigador Coordenador Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa, orientador; -Doutora Susana Paula Florindo Salgado, Investigadora Auxiliar Instituto de Ciências Sociais da Universidade de Lisboa 2018 !2 Dedication This work is dedicated to: My father’s spirit - he always encouraged us to study and learn even at those times we believed there were other priorities. My mother’s spirit, and for all the days when she carried our cradles from one cave to another to protect us from horrific airstrikes in order to survive. !3 CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE TEXT ......................................................................8 Index of Tables ........................................................................................................................8 Acknowledgements .....................................................................................................................9 Abstract ..........................................................................................................................................10 Abstract in Portuguese ..............................................................................................................11 INTRODUCTION: THE AIM OF THE STUDY, RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND STATE OF THE ART .......................................................................................................................................17 The aim of this study .................................................................................................................17 Research questions ...................................................................................................................18 Intended contributions of this study to the state of the art .........................................................20 CHAPTER ONE: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK, RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................21 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................21 1.1. Literature review: The relationship between politics and media .......................................22 1.1.1 The research problem: Politics and media ...................................................................22 1.1.2 Four theories of the press ..............................................................................................24 1.1.3. The media as a competitive market in the political process by state and political parties ....................................................................................................................................26 1.1.4 News theories and research into media and politics ....................................................27 1.1.5 Media in the Arab world ..............................................................................................28 1.2 Theoretical framework and research design: the four dimensions of media system ..........30 Dimension #1: Media market ................................................................................................32 Dimension #2: Political parallelism ......................................................................................33 Dimension #3: Journalistic professionalism ..........................................................................34 Dimension #4: Role and intervention of the state in the media system ...............................34 1.3 Theoretical expectations .....................................................................................................35 1.4 Data and research methods .................................................................................................37 1.5 What is this study and what is it not? .................................................................................40 1.6 Research ethics ...................................................................................................................41 CHAPTER TWO: KURDISTAN REGION OF IRAQ: POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT ...........42 BEFORE AND AFTER 2003 ........................................................................................................42 Introduction ..............................................................................................................................42 2.1 Historical and political Background of Kurdistan Region of Iraq .......................................42 2.2 Kurdistan Regional Government 1991 - 2003 .....................................................................47 2.2.1 The Gulf War and the Uprising .....................................................................................47 !4 2.2.2 Kurdistan Parliament and the establishment of Kurdistan Regional Government .......49 2.2.3. Formation of Kurdistan Parliament and de facto Autonomy .......................................51 2.2.4. The terms of Kurdistan Parliament - Iraq (1992-2017) ..............................................54 2.2.5. The internal war between KDP and PUK ....................................................................59 2.3. Kurdistan Region after 2003 ...............................................................................................63 2.3.1 Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Kurds 2003-2013 .....................................................63 2.3.2 Economic system and economic development of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq ..........67 2.3.3 Erbil and Baghdad relations after 2003 ........................................................................69 2.4. Kurdistan Independence Referendum ................................................................................72 2.4. The Question and the implementation ............................................................................74 2. 5.1 Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) .............................................................................77 2.5.2 Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) .............................................................................78 2.5.3 The Change Movement (Gorran) .................................................................................79 2.5.4 The Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) .............................................................................80 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................80 CHAPTER THREE: THE FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE PRESS IN THE KURDISTAN REGION OF IRAQ (1961 - 2014) .......................................................................84 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................84 3.1 First period: Rebellion press: the press during the days of mountain rebellions (1961-1991) 86 3.1.1 Mountain rebellion .......................................................................................................89 3.1.2 Mountain radio (1963-1991) ........................................................................................94 3.2 Second period, Partisan press: press coming down from the mountains into cities (1991-2003) .............................................................................................................................102 3.3.1 The Uprising and de-facto government ......................................................................102 3.2.2 The press after 1991 ...................................................................................................104 3.3 Third period: The laws and legislation related to the press adopted by the KRI Parliament (2003-2014) .............................................................................................................................106 3.3.1 Iraqi criminal law and publication law .......................................................................106 3.3.2 Press-related laws in the KRI .....................................................................................109 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................116
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