The position and the role of Popular Mobilization Forces in the Iraqi political system A political & analytical study

Abstract

After the emergence and end of the terrorist organization (ISIS) in Iraq, there were changes qualitatively and quantitatively in political, military, security, economic and social conditions. Chief among them was the emergence and creation, and the strengthening of various sectarian and partisan militias and different groups in the country. As a result, most of these militias were gathered in the Popular Mobilization Committee, and then religious legitimacy was given by Shiite religious references (Shiite Marja) in Iraq and political and legal legitimacy by Iraqi Government and parliament. In war against ISIS terrorist organization, they played a significant role in liberating the occupied areas and cities. After the end of (ISIS), these militias started creating coalitions and political alliances among them and participated in the May 2018 elections of the Iraqi parliament and obtained many parliamentary seats in parliament. Thus, their weight and their political and military presence have deepened to a great extent; and the political process in Iraq was controlled by their hegemony and their strategic and ideological tendencies as well. However, Iraq›s internal attitudes as well as the regional and international attitudes remain different towards these militias. Therefore, their future becomes a very important issue in all Iraqi political and diplomatic arguments, as well as between regional and international organizations and countries and the Iraqi government.

This paper attempts to shed light on the aforementioned issues through three main sections. The first section is devoted to explain the reasons of the emergence of these groups and the popular militias and people’s mobilization committee with reference to the most important and strongest of them. The second section is entitled (different attitudes of the internal and external of Iraq) towards those militias and people’s mobilization committee in general. The third and last section talks about the role and status of these militias and their future within the Iraqi political system.