Iraq's Constitution of 2005: Liberal consociation as political prescription

Democracies have two basic choices for managing ethnic, national, and religious diversity. They may seek to construct a single all-embracing public identity through “integration” or try to accommodate dual or multiple public identities through “consociation.” These are the two dominant, broad-based prescriptions that are offered for addressing the conflict in Iraq. In this article, we argue that Iraq's new Constitution, ratified in 2005, reflects a “liberal” form of consociation that accommodates Iraq's democratically mobilized communities. We examine in detail the Constitution's provisions for both self-government and for shared government, and argue that these provisions represent a reasonable way forward for all of Iraq's citizens and peoples. The Constitution is defended against integrationist criticisms.