Foreign State Actors and Domestic Factors Influencing Iraq's Democratic Process, 2014-2023

Abstract: Since the classical work of Samuel Huntington tilted the Third Wave of Democratisation, the question of how a country becomes a democracy and why others do not have been of interest to social scientists, notably political scientists. With more than three decades since the publication of this seminal work, empirical research has focused on several regions in the world and have provided various explanation for why some countries transition to democracy and why other fail. Along these lines, this thesis attempt to study the future of democracy by focusing on an intriguing case (e.g., Iraq), a country known to have a diverse ethnic and sectarian composition, conflict-ridden but also vital to the global war against terrorism. Thus, the thesis is guided by the question, "How have foreign state actors and domestic factors affected the democratic process in Iraq, 2014-2023?" The thesis uses qualitative research methods such as process tracing and semi-structured interviews to answer this question.