Iraq: Daniel W. Bromley: Iraq's Curse of Oil and Stifled Economy

Jul 23, 2014 | Wiconsin State Journal
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The focus in Iraq is on “sectarianism” and political disarray.

But to move forward in Iraq and much of the Middle East and North Africa, policymakers must address the comprehensive economic dysfunction — a downward spiral that predates the removal of Saddam Hussein and the subsequent chaos we now observe.

The lack of a functioning economy makes these recurring struggles necessary. Those who cannot see a promising future have a tendency to fixate on the imagined purity of a distant past.

With the highest rate of youth unemployment above 45 percent among 21 Arab states in the Middle East and North Africa, the stakes could not be higher.