Is Kurdistan heading toward democracy? : A Case Study of Democratization process in Iraqi Kurdistan

Abstract: Can a nation without being an independent state reach democracy? According to some researchers a democratization process cannot happen without having an independent state with control over their own territories. The Kurdish people without a given state are divided between four authoritarian states in the Middle east and in opposite to its neighbors' have Kurds ambition to become democratic always existed. The purpose pf this thesis was to analyze if Iraqi Kurdistan is heading towards democracy and to find what the driving factors behind the democratization process are. The thesis used a qualitative text analysis approach with a complementary case study where the thesis focused on Larry Diamonds internal and external factors as a guiding instrument to determine what political mechanisms have driven Kurds and politicians' transition to democracy and peace. The analysis presented that authoritarian division, authoritarian development, free values, civil society, peaceful pressure and limits of sanctions and aid conditionally drove them. For answering the research problem, is a democratization processes possible for non-independent states? It is possible, Kurds in Iraq have so far accomplished to establish an electoral democracy, and a consolidated democracy is not impossible if legitimacy among politicians are increased and if freedom of expression is uncontrolled by politicians and if corruption decreases.