All Policy Analysis by Bilal Wahab

International pressure has raised the stakes of the planned referendum, but the Kurds have made their case even if the vote is canceled.

The KRG must commit, as its statehood referendum nears, to an independent judiciary, a strong parliament, and other hallmarks of a democratic society.

Preparations for the independence referendum highlight political and generational divides in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Without a concrete plan for the aftermath of the city's fall, a very complex multilateral conflict may soon erupt in northern Iraq.

The KRG's independence referendum should be treated as a tactical bid to unify the Iraqi Kurds and strengthen their position toward Baghdad, but without jettisoning their gradualist approach.

Getting governance right is the only way to prevent future waves of terrorism and warlordism, making efforts toward that end a matter of Iraqi and U.S. national security.

The rise of the Islamic State brought the Kurds together, but its impending fall now threatens to tear them apart.

Their emerging confluence of interests will only exacerbate the internal problems caused by factionalism and failed governance in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Stabilizing post-ISIS Iraq will require economic reform in addition to any political settlement.

Despite pressure from OPEC to cap its oil production, the Iraqi government can neither afford a cut nor enforce it upon the Kurdistan Regional Government.

This collection of essays by Washington Institute experts explores how the United States can work with--or, in some cases, around--the various actors in heavily Kurdish-populated northern Syria to advance the fight against the Islamic State and create long-term stability. Successive pieces look at the Kurds themselves, Turkey, Arabs in the

Internal political bickering and public discontent over economic problems could complicate the upcoming Mosul campaign and the KRG's long-term unity.

September 28, 2016 In a bold state-like move, the Kurdish Democratic Union Party ( PYD) conducted censuses in the Rojava canton of Jazira. The government of the autonomous region seems to realize that being the “good guys” on the battlefield is not enough. To be legitimate rulers, they need to