A Study of Corruption in Iraq After 2003
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Clientelism, Rent-seeking and Protection: A study of corruption in Iraq after 2003 Sarwar Mohammed Abdullah A Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Geography, Politics and Sociology Newcastle University 2017 Abstract This thesis examines corruption in post-2003 Iraq. As an oil-rich country with a factionalised political system based on sectarian appointments along ethnic and religious lines, Iraq is an interesting case for studying corruption. The core argument of this thesis is not about whether corruption exists in Iraq, but about the nature and forms it takes and why. The central claim is that corruption in Iraq takes three forms: clientelism, rent-seeking and corruption protection. Clientelism centres on the trading of state funds by multiple parties in return for political support or ‘buy affiliation and buy vote’. Rent-seeking is corrupt if it arises from an artificial monopolistic situation. Corruption protection is action to counter a primary form of corruption - i.e. clientelism or rent-seeking- and to prevent perpetrators from being brought to justice. Two factors make corruption distinctive in Iraq. The first factor is that these three forms of corruption may or may not be illegal, but I argue against regarding the law as a standard for defining corruption, because otherwise, some forms and ways of practising corruption could be deemed corrupt in one legal system but not corrupt in another. The reason why these three forms of corruption are labelled as corruption is because they are practised to promote mutual benefit between two parties, thereby subverting the public interest for sectional interest. In other words, people who are involved in such forms of corruption gain a mutual benefit which is private, and this means privatising the public interest by a particular segment of the community. The second factor follows on from the first, in that corruption has a political rather than a legal foundation, based on the sectarian and partisan line appointments muhasassa political system which is not necessarily illegal, but is a politically damaging (undemocratic) political process which is against the public interest. Over 100 years ago, Brooks (1909) argued that corruption is intentional action, and I agree that privatising the public interest by particular segments of the population subverting the public interest is definitely intentional action. My view, therefore, is that corruption in Iraq has only one condition -intentional action for sectional interests- and that the issue of legality/illegality is not relevant to the definition of corruption. The study uses data from key informant interviews and focus groups that were carried out during 2014-2015 in Iraq. The thesis concludes that the three forms of corruption that have plagued Iraq cannot be easily eliminated, because reconciliation between the different groups in power is needed to make institutions for anti-corruption work, and that would require a process of democratisation which is unlikely to take place in the near future. ii Dedication I dedicate this thesis to those who consistently work to improve transparency around the world. And this thesis is also dedicated to those who are still paying great sacrifices for uncovering information related to many corrupt deals behind closed doors. iii Acknowledgment I would like to express my gratitude and thanks first to my principal supervisor, Dr Emily Clough, for her constant walking with me during my PhD journey and for her invaluable comments on both theoretical and empirical analysis. Especially, I am appreciative for her latest comments which helped me to refine many of the concepts and analyses in the thesis. I would also like to sincerely thank my other supervisor, Prof Tim Gray, for his excellent suggestions, empirical skills, guidance, and encouragement which have helped to shape much of the writing of my PhD thesis. Without this consistent care it would have been impossible to finish this thesis. My deepest indebtedness for Tim is unquantifiable. I should say he is a wonderful mentor, and I will be forever be indebted for his support throughout the production of this thesis. In the Politics Department, I would like also to thank Prof Tony Zito for the gracious assistance and his very astute recommendations which helped me to get my head around the problems of data collection, especially in relation to how fieldwork should be done. I have to bear in mind that without interviewees and focus groups the study would not be achieved. So I must thank high officials and MPs who set aside times for interviews with me despite their very busy schedules. Here, I could not be able to mention their names individually but I mentioned their a little detail on the character of my interviewees and focus group members. Also, I would like to thank people who helped me to arrange these interviews, without them I would not have been able to personally contact respondents. I would like to thank focus group members for their time and their patience with me during the discussions. I would like also to thank my friends for kindly helping me to find the right English words when I translated my interviewees and focus group discussions from Arabic and Kurdish into English. These friends including Jalal Mustaff, Nahwi Saeed, Twana Saadi, and Racheal Nettleship. I would like to express my gratitude and thanks to my friend in the Geography Department Arezu Bari for her advice and her suggestions to improve my thesis. Also, I would like to thank Craig Johnston from Politics department for kindly helping me anytime I wanted. I should thank all people who set aside time for me for any kinds of advice and help. I would like to thank the Ministry of Higher Education in Kurdistan region for providing me with a scholarship. I have gratefully received funding form the Human Capacity iv Development Program. In particular, I would like to thank Prof Dlawar Alladin when he was Minister of Higher Education for his personal efforts over financial support. I would like also to thank the University of Sulaimanya and Halabja for offering me official permission to study PhD. I also deeply thank my father, mother, sisters and brothers who have been the motivational factor in my life and invaluable support during my PhD thesis and my fieldwork. Finally, I would like to thank all who extended me all kind of help to complete this thesis. v List of Abbreviations COI Commission of Integrity CPA Coalition Provisional Authority CPI Corruption Perception Index DFI Development Fund of Iraq EFCC Economic and Financial Crime Commission EIA Energy Information Agency EITI Extract Industry Transparency Initiatives FBSA Federal Board of Supreme Audit FGD Focus Group Discussion GCB Global Corruption Barometer GDs General Directors IAMB Advisory and Monitoring Board IC Integrity Commission IOB International Oil Bursaries IOCs International Oil Companies IGC Iraqi Governing Council IGs General Inspectors KDP Kurdistan Democratic party KIG Kurdistan Islamic Group vi KOTO Kurdistan Oil Trust Organisation KIs Key Informants KIU Kurdistan Islamic Union KRG Kurdistan Regional Government MBD million barrels per day MHE Ministry of Higher Education MNR Ministry of Natural Resources NGO Non-Governmental Organisation PDK Party Democratic- Kurdistan PUK Patriotic Union- Kurdistan RFFG Reserve Fund for Future Generations SF Stabilisation Fund SIGRI Special Inspector General for Reconstruction-Iraq SOMO State Oil Marketing Organisation-Iraq SPF State Petroleum Fund STF Sovereign Trust Fund TI Transparency International UNSC United National Security Council WB World Bank WGI World Governance Indicator vii Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ................................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgments...................................................................................................................... v List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................ vi Table of contents .................................................................................................................... viii List of tables and figures ............................................................................................................ x Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 The rationale of the study ............................................................................................ 2 1.3 Research question, goals and scope .......................................................................... 29 1.4 The importance of the study ...................................................................................... 30 1.5 Outline of thesis chapters .......................................................................................... 32 1.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 35 Chapter 2 Conceptualising corruption............................................................................. 36 2.1 Introduction